SPD's Scholz consolidates German election lead with TV debate win

FILE PHOTO: Election campaign billboards featuring the three top candidates for the German chancellery (the Greens' Annalena Baerbock, SPD's Olaf Scholz and CDU's Armin Laschet) stand on a roadside in Berlin, Germany, September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi

BERLIN (Reuters) -The Social Democrat (SPD) candidate to become Germany's next chancellor beat his conservative rival in a primetime TV debate on Sunday, a snap poll showed, further boosting his campaign to succeed Angela Merkel in an election in two weeks' time.

The SPD leads the conservatives in polls and its candidate Olaf Scholz, currently finance minister, brushed off verbal attacks from Armin Laschet on his record on tackling money-laundering and whether he would ally with a far-left party.