German ex-FinMin unanimously nominated as Chancellor candidate

19:40, 1 October 2012

BERLIN. October 1. KAZINFORM Leaders of German opposition party Social Democrats (SPD) on Monday unanimously nominated former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck as Chancellor candidate in next year's election.

In a meeting held in Berlin, none of the 35 executive members of SPD voted against Steinbrueck to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in the federal election, which is expected to start in September 2013, Xinhua reports.

The nomination of Steinbrueck, who ran the finance ministry during Merkel's first term between 2005 and 2009, was announced last Friday. His final candidate identity will be confirmed at a election party congress on Dec. 9 in Hannover.

Two of Steinbrueck's competitors, SPD President Sigmar Gabriel and SPD parliament party leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier had quit the contest last week.

In newspaper Welt am Sonntag published Sunday, 65-year-old Steinbrueck criticized Merkel's policy towards Greece, urging her to be honest on how long will Germany have to save the debt-ridden country and demanding more time for Greece to carry out their reform.

According to a poll launched by Emnid for German N24 television, 59 percent of people believe Steinbrueck would be competent for being Chancellor and 49 percent of the respondents think he is "sympathetic."

Besides, 45 percent of people regard the 65-year-old former finance minister's political spectrum as a "conservative" one.

A previous poll showed that Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won more support than its opposition SPD.

Merkel will compete for her third term in next year's election, and has expressed her super confidence to win.