BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The co-leaders of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition, Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang, said on Wednesday they would resign as leaders of the Green Party following the party's defeat in the federal state elections and poor opinion polls.
In the September elections in the eastern states of Thuringian, Saxony and Brandenburg, the Greens performed worse than in the previous elections, failing to surpass the 5-percent threshold required to enter parliaments in two of the states. Additionally, in the European Parliament election held in June this year, the German Green Party's vote also declined compared to the previous election, contributing to a decrease in the party's support rate in German opinion polls.
"The results of the just-concluded regional election in Brandenburg show that the Green Party is in its worst crisis in a decade," Noripour told a news conference.
According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the announcement of the Green Party leadership's resignation will not affect Germany's "traffic light" coalition. Steffen Hebestreit, the spokesman for the German federal government, said on Wednesday that Scholz had "worked closely and trustfully" with the two leaders and expressed regret over their departure. The SPD leadership also thanked the Green Party leaders for their close cooperation.
It has been reported that a new Green Party president will be elected at the Green Party congress in mid-November. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has taken some responsibility for the poor election result and called for an open debate on the future of the Green Party at the party congress.
German analysts believe that while the resignations will not have a direct impact on the German federal government or the Green Party ministers serving at the federal level, including Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Belbock, the move could potentially lead to greater political instability. ■