Germany's struggling Social Democrats (SPD) chose Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday to run against Chancellor Angela Merkel in federal elections in 2009, Reuters reported. In a surprise move, Franz Muentefering, a 68-year-old former SPD chairman just back from a break from politics to care for his dying wife, will take over as chairman of the party after Kurt Beck announced his resignation from that role. The SPD, languishing in opinion polls and threatened by the rise of the new Left party, is desperate to end divisions over its direction. This is its fifth change of leadership in just over four years. The SPD shares power with Merkel's conservatives in an awkward coalition. "The election campaign does not begin today, but we are now in the game of catching up for the 2009 federal election," said Steinmeier, accepting his party's nomination.
