Scholz Faces Tricky Electoral Test in Former Party Stronghold

  • Latest polls point to tight race in North Rhine-Westphalia
  • More than 13 million eligible to vote in most populous region

Olaf Scholz speaks at an SPD election rally on May 6.

Source: picture alliance/Bloomberg

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces another tricky electoral test on Sunday, with polls suggesting his Social Democratic Party could suffer a second setback in a week in a regional ballot.

Some 13.2 million people are eligible to vote in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a heavily industrialized western region that was once an SPD stronghold but has been ruled by the Christian Democratic Union since the most-recent election in 2017.