German election: Merkel’s challenger Martin Schulz down but not out The SPD may be down the in polls, but Martin Schulz hasn’t given up the race. Angela Merkel’s rivals have spent the weekend criss-crossing the country to pick up last-minute votes. DW’s Rebecca Staudenmaier reports. Martin Schulz makes last-ditch efforts to gain voters in Aachen, near his hometown (Reuters/T.Schmuelgen) Martin Schulz isn’t giving up without a fight. At the Social Democrat (SPD) candidate’s last campaign event in the western city of Aachen on Saturday, Schulz couldn’t help but throw a few final jabs at the woman he hopes to unseat after Germany votes on Sunday — Chancellor Angela Merkel. «She wants to keep the past, I want to shape the future,» Schulz yelled to a crowd of hundreds of people crammed into Aachen’s Katschhof courtyard.