The departure of the once promising Kevin Kunert from the position of General Secretary of her Social Democratic Party of Germany https://www.skai.gr/tags/germania(SPD) could be interpreted as a belated reaction of the party to its tragic results, both in the opinion polls and in the two electoral contests of September 1 in eastern Germany.

The 35-year-old Kuhnert cited health reasons for his decision, but the general assessment is that this resignation is an attempt to signal a kind of new beginning for Chancellor Olaf Solz’s party, which is undoubtedly going through a period of deep crisis and wider self-doubt.

An avowed leftist

Kunert’s successor, the 55-year-old Matthias Mearsan experienced executive with a twenty-year parliamentary term, was found extremely quickly, which shows that the necessary preparations had obviously been made in recent weeks.

The German press interprets this change of faces as a clear attempt by the SPD leadership to move further to the left, not necessarily by turning, but by “flashing”, to overtake the parties that seem to have taken the lead against it. In the most recent opinion polls, the SPD is with percentages of around 16-17% far behind the Christian Democrats and is often marginally third, behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

But for overtaking, the flash is not enough. The engine needs to be able to cope with the acceleration requirement. Here there are doubts about the dynamics that a party relatively old and worn out from its participation, both in this government and in the previous one, can discover within it.

Looking for animator and designer

Matias Mirs is therefore called upon to take on the role of grassroots animator, strategy designer, but also a “barker” for a wider audience. He is seen as a representative of the left wing, unlike Olaf Solz, with whom he will have to not only coexist, but also work harmoniously in order to achieve the miracle, which the chancellor insists is possible. In other words, to win the elections. In order to do this, social democracy will have to convince itself that it has more than a propensity for governmentalism in its flags. To propose something different from what he has been identified with in recent years.

Where will he find allies?

But he will also face an absolutely practical problem, at a time when exactly like that, that is, a large part of the electorate practically votes, calculating the possible alternative government alliances. The SPD appears to be suffering from a serious lack of potential allies. His current partners in the tricolor government no longer seem either solvent or available. There are no allies further to his left.

Even if he succeeds in coming first, he will not have a majority. It remains as a less exciting option a cooperation, from the best possible position with the Christian Democrats. In other words, what was once called the “great coalition”.

That is, what existed until 2021 with Soltz as vice chancellor and to which Kevin Kunert owes his rise to a large extent, as a great opponent of this coalition, constantly asking his party to denounce him and leave. It will look like a joke of history in 2026 to find Germany with a government… from the old days and Kunert retired from politics before he was forty.