Germany’s Greens Leaders Resign Following Electoral Losses

Amid declining support and recent election setbacks, Germany’s Greens co-leaders step down, calling for new leadership.

BERLIN — After a string of bad luck in elections, the leaders of Germany’s Greens party, who are part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s team, have decided to step down.

This move highlights how shaky things are within the party, which has seen its popularity drop a lot recently.

After losing big in the European Parliament elections in June and not doing well in three state elections this month, including a big loss in Brandenburg, the party’s co-leader Omid Nouripour said that they’re in the middle of a big crisis.

He stressed that they need a fresh start and that it’s time for new leaders to come in and shake things up.

Taking over in early 2022, Nouripour and his partner Ricarda Lang took over from Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, who left to take on big roles in Scholz’s team.

But since then, the Greens haven’t been doing so hot, with their team falling behind their partners, the Union bloc, in the polls.

The Union bloc is now in the lead, with the far-right Alternative for Germany picking up some support.

People are also getting mad at the national government, especially because the team is having a hard time working together.

Germans are fed up with the long talks about projects that often make people worried about extra costs, like the controversial plans to stop using fossil-fuel heating systems.

A party meeting in mid-November is going to decide who the new leaders of the Greens will be.

Ricarda Lang said they need new faces to help them get out of this mess, even though she knows it’s going to be tough.

Even though the new leaders are coming in, the five Greens in Scholz’s team are still going to be there.

But the Greens have taken a hit in the polls, dropping from 20.5% to just 11.9% this year, especially with younger voters.

In the last national elections, they got 14.8% with Annalena Baerbock at the head, but she’s not planning to run for the chancellorship again.

It’s not clear if the Greens are going to pick another candidate for the chancellorship, but there’s talk about Habeck being a good choice.

He said that Nouripour and Lang stepping down is a good thing for the party, and it’s going to help them get back on track.