Chancellor Olaf Scholz has denied media reports that Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Lars Klingbeil had advised him to give up his candidacy for chancellor. “No, such a conversation never took place” Scholz said to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Thursday edition) on Wednesday, adding, “And I would know if it did.”
News portal T-Online and the Berlin-based newspaper Tagesspiegel had reported that the party chief had advised Scholz multiple times after the government crisis in November to not run as a candidate for chancellor in the early federal election. Klingbeil was said to have taken into account the concerns of the SPD’s closer leadership and powerful state associations, which were advocating for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius as a candidate.