Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Leader of the Social Democratic Party (Vorsitzender der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands) is the most senior political figure within the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Since December 2019, the office has been held jointly by Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans.

Leader of the Social Democratic
Party
Incumbent
Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans
since 6 December 2019
Member ofFederal Executive
Federal Presidium
Inaugural holderPaul Singer
Formation1890
Deputy

The Leader of the Social Democratic Party is supported by a General Secretary, which since December 2017 has been Lars Klingbeil. Furthermore, the leaders are supported by five deputy leaders, which currently are Klara Geywitz, Hubertus Heil, Kevin Kühnert, Serpil Midyatli, and Anke Rehlinger.

Selection

The Leader of Social Democratic Party is elected by Party conferences, usually with around 600 delegates representing all the state and local party chapters. To stand as leader, a candidate needs to be nominated by 90 "Ortsvereine", local chapters. It is unusual for more than one person to be nominated as party leader, as the decision who becomes leader is usually made behind the scenes within the Presidium and Federal Executive. This has drawn hefty criticism, so much so that in the last leadership election in April 2018, Simone Lange[1] challenged Andrea Nahles, the candidate nominated by the Federal Executive. This challenge, in German called "Kampfabstimmung" has only happened twice before once in 1993[2] and once in 1995.[3]

Leaders of the Social Democratic Party (1949–present)

A list of leaders (including acting leaders) since 1949.[4]

No. LeaderTook officeLeft officeTime in officeStateChancellor
1
Schumacher, KurtKurt Schumacher
(1895–1952)		11 May 194620 August 19526 years, 101 days Lower SaxonyKonrad Adenauer
2
Ollenhauer, ErichErich Ollenhauer
(1901–1963)		27 September 195214 December 196311 years, 78 days North Rhine-WestphaliaKonrad Adenauer
Ludwig Erhard
3
Brandt, WillyWilly Brandt
(1913–1992)		16 February 196414 June 198723 years, 118 days BerlinLudwig Erhard
Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Himself
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Kohl
4
Vogel, HansHans-Jochen Vogel
(born 1926)		14 June 198729 May 19913 years, 349 days BavariaHelmut Kohl
5
Engholm, BjörnBjörn Engholm
(born 1939)		29 May 19915 May 19931 year, 341 days Schleswig-HolsteinHelmut Kohl
–
Rau, JohannesJohannes Rau
(1931–2006)
Acting		5 May 199325 June 199351 days North Rhine-WestphaliaHelmut Kohl
6
Scharping, RudolfRudolf Scharping
(born 1947)		25 June 199316 November 19952 years, 144 days Rhineland-PalatinateHelmut Kohl
7
Lafontaine, OskarOskar Lafontaine
(born 1943)		16 November 199512 March 19993 years, 116 days SaarlandHelmut Kohl
Gerhard Schröder
8
Schröder, GerhardGerhard Schröder
(born 1944)		12 March 199921 July 20045 years, 131 days Lower SaxonyHimself
9
Müntefering, FranzFranz Müntefering
(born 1940)		21 July 200415 March 2005237 days North Rhine-WestphaliaGerhard Schröder
10
Platzeck, MatthiasMatthias Platzeck
(born 1953)		15 March 200510 April 20061 year, 26 days BrandenburgAngela Merkel
11
Beck, KurtKurt Beck
(born 1949)		10 April 20067 September 20082 years, 150 days Rhineland-PalatinateAngela Merkel
–
Steinmeier, FrankFrank-Walter Steinmeier
(born 1956)
Acting		7 September 200818 October 200841 days Lower SaxonyAngela Merkel
12
Müntefering, FranzFranz Müntefering
(born 1940)		18 October 200813 November 20091 year, 26 days North Rhine-WestphaliaAngela Merkel
13
Gabriel, SigmarSigmar Gabriel
(born 1959)		13 November 200919 March 20177 years, 126 days Lower SaxonyAngela Merkel
14
Schulz, MartinMartin Schulz
(born 1955)		19 March 201713 February 2018331 days North Rhine-WestphaliaAngela Merkel
–
Scholz, OlafOlaf Scholz
(born 1958)
Acting		13 February 201822 April 201868 days HamburgAngela Merkel
15
Nahles, AndreaAndrea Nahles
(born 1970)		22 April 20183 June 20191 year, 42 days Rhineland-PalatinateAngela Merkel
–
Schwesig, ManuelaManuela Schwesig
(born 1974)
Acting		3 June 201910 September 201999 days Mecklenburg-VorpommernAngela Merkel
–
Schäfer-Gümbel, ThorstenThorsten Schäfer-Gümbel
(born 1969)
Acting		3 June 20191 October 2019120 days HesseAngela Merkel
–
Dreyer, MaluMalu Dreyer
(born 1961)
Acting		3 June 20196 December 2019186 days Rhineland-PalatinateAngela Merkel
16
Esken, SaskiaSaskia Esken
(born 1961)		6 December 2019188 days Baden-WürttembergAngela Merkel
16
Walter-Borjans, NorbertNorbert Walter-Borjans
(born 1952)		6 December 2019188 days North Rhine-WestphaliaAngela Merkel

See also

References
  1. Online, FOCUS. ""Pippi", "Bätschi", "in die Fresse" 90 Krawall-Sekunden mit Andrea Nahles - Video". FOCUS Online (in German). Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  2. Peter, Christopher J. (2008-06-13). "Scharping als SPD-Chef: Schmalspur-Obama aus dem Westerwald". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  3. GRASSMANN, PHILIP (1995-11-16). "Oskar Lafontaine stürzt Scharping". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  4. "Größen der Sozialdemokratie". Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) (in German). Retrieved 2018-04-23.
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