“Dear comrades, dear comrades, dear girlfriends and dear friends. I informed the leadership of the party and the heads of K.O. that I am not available for a nomination for the office of chancellor. It is a personal decision that I made completely alone. I said it in the previous weeks and I say it again today with all clarity: With Olaf Solz we have an excellent chancellor.”

With this message of his, which he chose to send via video on social media, with a red background and the party logo of the SPD, the Social Democrat sub. Defense Boris Pistorius is voluntarily giving up a bid for chancellor against the backdrop of snap elections on 23 February.

It thus puts an end to the scenarios of Olaf Solz being replaced as chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats. And this despite the fact that according to the latest poll by the public television ARD, 60% of respondents believe that Boris Pistorius would be the best chancellor.

Just 21% consider Olaf Solz more suitable, while the head of the Christian Democrats, Friedrich Merz, follows Pistorius in second place with 41%.