Feisty new leader

His most famous nickname is the "Harzer Roller" - a reference to his native region in the Harz Mountains and his corpulence, allegedly 110 kilograms (242 lbs.). But Sigmar Gabriel has also been pegged "Siggi-Pop" after the SPD made him responsible for pop music policy. Then, the outgoing environment minister was pegged "Comrade Knut" after he said he would sponsor Berlin's world-famous polar bear Knut.

Now, Gabriel's next nickname could be "Siggi the Savior," if he succeeds in turning around the ailing Social Democrats (SPD) as their next chairman.

Sources told German media that party leaders on Thursday had agreed on Gabriel to head the party. They will propose him at the party congress in Dresden in mid-November for approval by the delegates. He would replace Franz Muentefering, who has indicated he will step down.

The SPD suffered its worst election performance since World War Two in Sunday's general elections. After 11 years in government, the party has been catapulted back into opposition.

Success in environmental issues

The man designated to lead the SPD has been politically active since his youth. Gabriel entered politics at a young age. He joined Lower Saxony's state parliament at 31, where he was famous for being quick-witted, but also cocky and quick to shoot off his mouth.

Only nine years later, at age 40, he took over as premier when the incumbent had to step down after a series of political scandals. Gabriel became the youngest politician to hold such a position in Germany.

But he failed miserably in the state elections in 2003 and many in the party basically wrote him off. Just two years later, though, the SPD leadership knocked on his door, offering him the position of environment minister in the grand coalition with the Christian Democrats.

It has been this position as environment minister that has truly defined him in Germany's political landscape. Gabriel basically had no expertise when he was named to this post. But he quickly and thoroughly learned the ropes of this complex sector - earning him respect from both friends and foes, at home and abroad.

During the UN climate conference in Bali in 2007, Gabriel was one of the delegates significantly involved in getting the negotiations to move forward - in spite of the resistance of the US government under George W. Bush. He pushed through the climate focus of Germany's EU presidency and has put the negative forecasts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change into the limelight. He also actively propagates the phase-out of nuclear power, not caving in to lobby groups.

The 50-year-old has also distinguished himself in his efforts to make politics understandable, as he says, for the average fan in the soccer stadium. When he speaks about climate change, he doesn't focus on detailed carbon dioxide levels. Rather, he tells people about the millions of poor people in developing countries who will drown if western nations continue throwing their energy out of the window.

Hogging the spotlight - but pragmatically

The political alpha dog has often been accused of being arrogant and even similar in style to his old political arch-enemy, former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Both are experts in hogging the spotlight.

But this character trait marked him out favorably during Germany's fairly boring election campaign this summer. Gabriel was one of the few Social Democrats who could fill the marketplaces and meeting halls across the country.

Gabriel's alleged arrogance allows him to polarize and attack: be it the other parties, nuclear lobby groups, climate killers or those he sees cutting social services. Some analysts say Gabriel was the only SPD politician to actually fight during the campaign.

The challenge to move forward

Gabriel would become the fifth SPD chairman in just five years. He faces the difficult task of resolving deep internal divisions between reformers and leftists.

With no ideological blinders, Gabriel is a centrist and is known for his pragmatism. He is a member of the so-called "Seeheimer Kreis," a conservative grouping within the SPD who propagate what they call "feasible" social democratic policies. He is also tied to the SPD "Netzwerk" or network, an association of mostly younger SPD parliamentarians.

Though he has his work cut out for him, Gabriel is well aware of the challenge. He has recognized that the SPD has lost touch with its traditional working-class constituency. Already last year, he said the SPD had to call to mind the importance of the middle-class as "Germany's true performers" and offer them credible proposals. These had to have convincing economic and financial competency at its core.

"A reduction to purely social competency alone won't suffice," Gabriel said.

This summer, Gabriel told party associates that the SPD needed to redefine social democracy. It was in danger of becoming a grouping of old, structurally conservative functionaries and a workers' clientele that is dying off. The party had lost contact with the younger generation, as it lacked the intellectual foundation and programmatic renewal which the party needs if it is to be equipped for a better future.

The question is whether a man who by no means shies away from confrontation and even seeks it is the right man for the job. Can he unite all of the factions of the SPD? After all, each wing of the party views him as belonging to the other side.

The team which has been nominated to support him, however, comes from the SPD's younger generation and represents the party's wide range of opinion. Andrea Nahles, 39, from the SPD's left wing, was nominated as secretary-general, replacing Hubertus Heil, who will not seek re-election.

His four deputies are the popular Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, 56; the former labor minister Olaf Scholz, 51; the SPD leader in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft, 48, who faces elections early next year; and shooting star Manuela Schwesig, who, at 35, is social affairs minister in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

sac/AP/dpa/AFP
Editor: Michael Lawton