German Social Democratic Party in crisis

By Dietmar Henning 10 June 2008 The so-called “Future Convention” held by the Social Democratic Party in the city of Nuremberg on Saturday May 31 revealed the true extent of the crisis gripping the SPD after ten years in government. Against a background of social polarization and increasing poverty, largely due to the SPD’s own policies, this former “People’s Party” is now pulling out the stops to prevent a massive slump in its popular support. According to current opinion polls, just 20 percent of the electorate would vote for the SPD. The Future Convention was aimed at providing a platform for the embattled SPD chairman Kurt Beck to publicly recover some ground. Prior to the convention there had been disputes in the party’s executive committee over whether Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier should also be allowed to... [read full story]