BERLIN: The co-leaders of Germany's Greens party, which is part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition, said on Wednesday they would quit after a series of election blows that saw their party ejected from two regional parliaments.
The decision of Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang comes at a time of turbulence for the coalition, buffeted by voter angst over the
economic challenges
facing Germany and by fierce debates over migration as a national election looms next year.
While their move has no direct impact on the government or on Greens ministers serving in it - including Scholz's deputy Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock - analysts said it could stoke greater political instability.
"The result in Brandenburg (regional election) on Sunday is a sign our party is in its deepest crisis for a decade," Nouripour told a news conference. "It is time to lay our beloved party's fate in others' hands."
The Greens failed to clear the 5 per cent hurdle needed to enter parliament in Brandenburg and also that of Thuringia on September 1.
Habeck, who is Germany's economy minister, said he shared responsibility for the poor election results and called for an open debate on the Greens' future at their party congress in mid-November, when a new leadership will be elected.
"The Greens will reorder their ranks to start the catch-up ahead of the elections with new force," Habeck said.
A new left-wing populist party and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have outperformed all three coalition parties this year, while the main opposition conservatives lead in national polls.
All three coalition partners also suffered big losses in their vote share in the Saxony regional election on September 1 and for the European Parliament earlier this year. - Reuters
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