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Fourteen candidates and candidates, seven pairs of men and women present themselves to the members of the SPD, the Social Democratic Party who will have to elect their new two-headed leadership. For a month, it's a new casting show that travels across Germany. Report in Dresden where held Thursday evening one of their regional conferences.
With our special envoy in Dresden, Pascal Thibaut
" Comrades, it is only if we have confidence in ourselves that voters will trust us. "Michael Roth, the Minister of European Affairs summarizes the current situation of the SPD he wants to take the lead: a party deemed not very credible, which languishes between 13 and 15% in polls and whose morale is at its lowest.
The "casting show" of the seven duos in the running for a month has given a little balm to the hearts of activists.
" The procedure we used to do was not really effective, it was not transparent at all. What was mobilized during these 22 conferences was extraordinary. I did not expect that, "enthuses Gesine Schwan, one of the candidates.
Candidates introduce themselves, answer questions from the public and conclude constantly on the stopwatch.
" I want a SPD that defends social justice and is committed to the environment, " says young activist Stefan Brauneis.
The 430,000 members of the party are called to vote. Predictions are difficult for this first round. The heavyweight, Olaf Scholz, vice-chancellor and finance minister, the only representative of the right wing of the party, should in any case appear in the second round while several duos, supporters of a line to the left, are in the running .
► See also: Germany: SPD President Andrea Nahles resigns