Scholz braves conservative attacks to win second German election debate

Centre-left frontrunner Olaf Scholz gets another boost after second of three televised debates between would-be Merkel successors

Candidates representing the two parties that have governed Germany in a grand coalition" for 12 out of the past 16 years tore into each other's record on Sunday night, in a televised election debate that saw centre-left frontrunner Olaf Scholz declared winner despite swipes from his conservative rival.

In the second of three televised debates, hosted by Germany's two public broadcasters, conservative candidate Armin Laschet of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) tried to turn his fortunes around by attacking finance minister Scholz of the Social Democratic party (SPD) over his track-record on tackling money laundering and corruption.