Germany's Social Democrat leader Nahles resigns

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - The head of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Andrea Nahles, announced on Sunday her plan to resign after the party suffered big losses in last week’s European elections.

In a statement, Nahles said she would quit as party leader on Monday, and would also step down as parliamentary group leader on Tuesday, in order to open up the possibility for an orderly procedure to choose a successor.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partner SPD recorded its worst result in last week’s European Parliament elections, sparking a furious debate within the party.

The SPD crashed to 15.8%, sharply down from the 27.3% of the vote it collected in 2014.