Germany’s Social Democrats nominate Finance Minister Scholz as party’s candidate for chancellor in 2021 election

The Social Democrats in Germany proposed Olaf Scholz, the vice chancellor and finance minister and their most high-profile and popular politician, to run to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in next year’s elections.

The decision marks a comeback for the former Hamburg mayor, who was last year defeated in the race to lead his party by two left-wing outsiders. Now, Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans have nominated their erstwhile rival, Reuters reports.

“Now it’s official,” Scholz tweeted. “The party leadership have unanimously nominated me as chancellor candidate. I look forward to a fun, fair and successful campaign.”

The party, which for decades vied with Merkel’s Christian Democrats to dominate the political scene, has not won a national election since 2002. Merkel’s fourth and final term is expected to end the next year.