Germany's Social Democratic Party maintains lead before polls

Berlin, Sep 11 Ahead of the September 26 federal elections in Germany, the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) have continued to lag behind their current junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), according to a Politbarometer survey published by the public broadcaster ZDF.

If the elections were held now, the SPD would receive 25 per cent of the vote and become the country's strongest political party, three percentage points ahead of the CDU/CSU with 22 per cent, according to the survey of around 1,300 Germans conducted by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen and published on FRiday.

Olaf Scholz, currently federal minister of finance and SPD candidate, is well positioned to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor and also enjoys the highest popularity rating of all candidates.

According to the survey, 68 per cent of Germans consider him a suitable choice as the next Chancellor.

Armin Laschet for the CDU/CSU as well as Annalena Baerbock for the Green Party seem to have outsider chances only in the fight for the Chancellorship.

The candidates have lost public as well as political support over the last weeks, as two out of three Germans consider them unsuitable for the task.

In the survey, the Greens came in third with 17 per cent, followed by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), both with 11 per cent, and the Left Party with 6 per cent, according to Politbarometer.

Because a coalition with the Left Party has been formally ruled out by its competitors due to its foreign policy line and stance on NATO in particular, a three-party coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP currently seems most likely, although other options are still on the table.

One in three Germans thinks that such a so-called "traffic light" coalition, referring to the red, yellow and green party colours, would be a good solution, but more than 40 per cent believe the opposite.

However, all other potential coalitions are assessed even more negatively.