BERLIN — (AP) — A top official with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party announced his resignation on Monday, citing health problems, a year before an election in which the center-left Social Democrats face an uphill struggle,
Kevin Kühnert, 35, has been the Social Democrats’ general secretary — the party official responsible for day-to-day political strategy — since late 2021.
Scholz led the party to a narrow win in that year’s national election. But its poll ratings have dropped sharply since then as the chancellor’s coalition with the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats has developed a reputation for constant infighting.
Kühnert is a former head of the party’s youth organization and was a leader of an unsuccessful campaign in early 2018 against the Social Democrats joining conservative then Chancellor Angela Merkel’s final coalition government.
In a letter to party members shared on his Instagram feed Monday, Kühnert noted that he had said …