Germany’s Social Democrats question coalition after leader Nahles resigns

Germany’s Social Democrats on Monday discussed appointing three caretaker leaders after Andrea Nahles resigned. SPD members, appalled by the party’s plunging popularity, called for ditching their coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Nahles, the most vocal proponent of the SPD’s reluctant decision to form a third so-called “grand coalition” with Merkel’s conservatives, quit on Monday after a disastrous showing at last weekend’s European Parliament elections. The party was also toppled in its stronghold city of Bremen after 70 years.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), appealed to the SPD to remain in their governing alliance.

The SPD executive have proposed naming three joint caretakers – Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer, the premiers of the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Rhineland-Palatinate respectively, and Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel, who heads the SPD in Hesse state to allow time to settle on a new permanent leader, Reuters reported, citing sources in the party.