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The SPD Shuffle

Social Democrats in Search of a Chairman

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Social Democrats' candidate for chancellor in recent elections, has announced that he will not seek the party chairmanship. The SPD leadership has been thrown into chaos after a historic defeat in Sunday's federal election.

Just days after suffering their worst election defeat in the 60-year history of modern Germany, the Social Democrats have begun reshuffling the party leadership.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the party's chancellor candidate in Sunday's general election, in which the SPD managed a paltry 23 percent of the vote, will not seek the position of party chairman, according to SPIEGEL ONLINE sources.

"It is my proposal that we make sure we spread the burden for the reorganization of the party," Steinmeier reportedly said during a Tuesday meeting of the SPD's parliamentary group in Berlin. "I asked myself whether I should shirk my responsibility or whether I should help stabilize the party. I have decided to do the latter."

The position of party chairman came open when party leader Franz Müntefering indicated that he would resign as a result of the dismal election results. Steinmeier had initially seemed to indicate his interest in the post in addition to taking over the position of SPD floor leader as the party moves into the opposition.

But it wasn't long before the party rank and file began protesting Steinmeier's power aspirations. Indeed, the SPD's regional Berlin organisation said on Monday that the whole leadership, including Müntefering, Steinmeier and Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück, needed to be replaced. The call was apparently made with the knowledge of Berlin's SPD mayor Klaus Wowereit, who is thought to have power aspirations of his own.

A number of German news agencies have reported that outgoing Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel will take over as the party's chairman. He would be the fourth chair of the struggling party in just four years.

Earlier in the day, party General Secretary Hubertus Heil announced that he was stepping down. Andrea Nahles, the powerful leader of the party's left wing, is seen as a likely replacement.

And Peer Steinbrück also threw in the towel on Tuesday, saying that he would resign as deputy chair of the party. He said he would turn away from the political limelight and clear the way for the next generation and declined to run for any top party positions.

Sunday's election marks the end of 11 straight years in government for the SPD. Merkel's Christian Democrats will form the next government together with the business-friendly Free Democrats.

The once-proud party has been dogged by crises in recent years. As recently as four years ago, the Social Democrats occupied the Chancellery in the person of Gerhard Schröder. And for the last four years, the SPD has been Merkel's junior coalition partner.

But support for the party had begun eroding well before Schröder lost the 2005 election to Angela Merkel and the slide hasn't slowed since. Many voters turned away from the party following Schröder's "Agenda 2010," a package of far-reaching cuts to Germany's generous welfare state.

Since then, the SPD's profile has grown blurry with many in the party wanting the Social Democrats to disown Schröder's reforms and turn back to the left. But the party has also struggled to find a strategy for dealing with the far-left Left Party, a relatively new political grouping made up of disgruntled former Social Democrats and leftovers of the former East German communist party.

Many in the SPD left wing would like to see the party abandon its unwillingness to cooperate with the Left Party on the federal level -- a demand that more conservative Social Democrats view with distaste.

cgh -- with wire reports