Olaf Scholz announced on Wednesday that despite his party’s poor performance in recent surveys, he will compete for chancellor again in Germany’s 2025 election, which has been scheduled for September.
“I will run as chancellor, to become chancellor again,” Scholz told journalists at his annual summer press conference in Berlin.
The government has previously approved September 28, 2025 as the date for the election.
Scholz became chancellor after his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) won Germany’s most recent general election in 2021.
The SPD formed a partnership with the Greens and the liberal FDP, but the parties have subsequently disagreed on a variety of topics, including climate policy and budget spending.
The war in Ukraine, the subsequent energy crisis, and high prices have all contributed to a general dissatisfaction with the government.
All three government parties have seen their ratings collapse, with the conservatives now the largest party and the far-right AfD coming in second.
In June’s EU elections, the SPD received only 14 percent of the vote, its lowest ever.
During the crisis, Scholz’s popularity has dipped inside his own party.
According to a recent survey, only one-third of SPD members believe he is the best choice for chancellor in 2025, with many preferring Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
But Scholz on Wednesday said his party was “very united behind what I am doing”.
“There has probably never been such a united SPD as the one we put together before the (2021) federal election and it managed to win the … election from a difficult starting position,” Scholz said.
The SPD had also been polling badly before the 2021 election but managed to stage a last-minute comeback, in part thanks to a weakened conservative camp that struggled to convince voters without former chancellor Angela Merkel.
“We will remain united and pursue our course,” Scholz said.
Asked about potential young SPD candidates to replace him, Scholz even suggested he could see himself staying on as chancellor for more than one more term.
The party will be ready for that “at the end of the next legislative period or the one after that”, he said.