BERLIN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Senior German Social Democrat (SPD) figures have publicly called for Martin Schulz to remain in the role of party leader on Monday after SPD candidate and incumbent governor Stephan Weil won regional elections in Lower Saxony.
Governor of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and SPD vice-president Manuela Schwesig said that the successful state election in Lower Saxony confirmed her earlier belief that Schulz would continue to lead the party.
Following the SPD's poor performance in federal elections on September 24, Schulz has faced calls to resign from the role of party leader. Nevertheless, Schulz has said that he wants to stay on at the helm of the SPD at least until the constituting party conference on December 28 where he intends to run for office again.
On Sunday, the SPD achieved its best result since 1998 in Lower Saxony, securing 36.9 percent of the state vote ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 33.6 percent, Greens with 8.7 percent, Free Democratic Party with 7.5 percent and Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 6.2 percent.
Schulz himself described the outcome as an "impressive success under difficult conditions."
Regional elections in Lower Saxony on Sunday marked the first time under Schulz's leadership that the SPD won an election. According to Schwesig, the party hereby benefited from having "made it clear" following federal elections that the SPD would return to the opposition benches.
While the decision not to form another "Grand Coalition" with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) on a federal level was been "definitely correct", the SPD Vice-President emphasized that the party now needed to undergo a process of re-organization.
Such views were seconded by the successful SPD candidate Martin Weil. Speaking at the SPD's headquarters in Berlin alongside Martin Schulz, Weil described his victory as an encouragement to commence with the party's renewal.
Early elections were triggered in Lower Saxony by the surprise defection of Greens delegate Elke Twesten to the CDU which caused the Greens-SPD coalition government of governor Weil to collapse.
Weil said on Monday that he would have liked to continue the SPD-Greens coalition, a constellation which has become arithmetically unfeasible. Instead, the SPD would now offer to enter talks with all parties aside from the far-right AfD.
"I cannot foresee which result we will arrive at" the SPD politician said with regards to Lower Saxony's next regional government.
