Following Olaf Scholz’s official nomination as the Social Democratic Party’s candidate for Chancellor, SPD Chair Saskia Esken expressed confidence in the party’s unity and determination for the election campaign. “With this wind at our back, we will now go into this electoral contest very united and with great fighting spirit” she said at the SPD’s party convention in Berlin.
Esken emphasized that the goal is for Scholz to lead the next federal government as well. She praised him for having “guided the country through difficult crises” and for ensuring that Ukraine received the necessary support to resist Russian aggression, while also working to prevent the war from becoming Germany’s war.
Simultaneously, Esken warned against disinformation campaigns. She criticized billionaire Elon Musk for using his X platform to spread hate, agitation, and disinformation, and drew a parallel with Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party of Austria was entrusted with forming a government. Esken also criticized the Austrian People’s Party, a sister party of the German Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union, for breaking its pre-election promise not to cooperate with the far-right after the election. Esken emphasized that conservatives should never and nowhere be “stepping stones for right-wing extremists.” The SPD Chair demanded that the Union clearly condemn such cooperation.