Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has made it clear that he will not contest the nomination as the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) candidate for chancellor ahead of the February 23 election.

In recent weeks, SPD figures and the media have been favoring his own candidacy over that of Chancellor Olaf Solz, seeing him as having a better chance of success.

“I have just informed the leadership of our party and our parliamentary group that I do not intend to run for the office of chancellor. I’m not done here yet. There is still much to be done. The office of the Minister of Defense is not a career springboard for me. The trust of the troops that I have earned is important to me”says Mr. Pistorius in a video message released via the SPD website notes that the debate is damaging the SPD and he wants to end it, even though he neither started it nor took part in it.

Boris Pistorius reiterated that Olaf Solz had been an “outstanding federal chancellor, who led a difficult three-party coalition in the midst of perhaps the biggest crisis in decades”. His logic and prudence are “especially important in these uncertain times”, he adds, concluding: “Olaf Solz is a strong chancellor and he is the right one for the appointment” ahead of the next election.

In opinion polls of the last few weeks, the Minister of Defense, for months now the most popular German politician, is significantly ahead of Mr. Solz on the question of choosing a chancellor candidate. In the current poll of the first channel of the German public television ARD, Mr. Pistorius is preferred by 60% of respondents, while Mr. Solz from just 21%.