German Chancellor Angela Merkel could soon be pushed out of leadership, after a surprise election toppled her own deputy. Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) threw out Olaf Scholz, who served as Mrs Merkel’s deputy chancellor and Germany’s finance minister. He was replaced with two far-left candidates who want to renegotiate the party’s coalition deal with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) – putting the German leader’s future in peril.
Mrs Merkel’s party has already rejected chances of a renegotiation, casting doubt on the future of the governing coalition.
The CDU’s Secretary General Paul Ziemiak tried to downplay the risk of national chaos, telling reporters: “We want to rule Germany well.
“We have created a foundation for this. And this internal decision of the SPD does not change anything on the foundation of the coalition.”
If the SPD pull out of the shaky ruling coalition, Mrs Merkel would almost certainly fall from power, which could mean the end of her lengthy political career.
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The Chancellor has previously declared that she would not run for re-election.
The two new left-wing leaders of the SPD, Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken, have promised to reunite the struggling party.
Both Mr Walter-Borjans and Ms Esken have been highly critical of the German Chancellor in the past.
Ms Esken said: “We want to reach out to all, we want to reach both our hands out to all – to those who decided otherwise and supported the other team, even in the pre-election campaign.
“We know it, you all know it, now we have to stand together. Only together can we manage to make the SPD strong again, to stand credibly for a just future.”
Angela Merkel’s own party faces a struggle as well, following poor recent election results.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the woman who was chosen to replace Ms Merkel as CDU leader, has also failed to persuade many voters of her leadership skills.
The left-leaning TAZ daily said the SPD decision was a “solid vote of no-confidence against the party establishment.
They warned that the SPD could set “unacceptable conditions to prepare an exit” from the coalition.
Germany’s economy has been one of the weakest in Europe in the pst year, with the country only just narrowly avoiding a recession last month.