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Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. Photo: Bloomberg

Angela Merkel’s departure splits Germany’s conservatives in battle for country’s top job

  • Markus Soeder and CDU party chairman Armin Laschet both declared their bid for the chancellorship at a news conference in Berlin on Sunday
  • The CDU and the CSU traditionally field a joint candidate for chancellor, but Soeder’s entry into the race signals a gloves-off contest between two sister parties
Germany

Bavarian leader Markus Soeder joined the race to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel after Germany’s election in September, setting up a fight with the head of her Christian Democratic Union for the nomination in her governing conservative bloc.

Soeder and CDU party chairman Armin Laschet both declared their bid for the chancellorship at a news conference in Berlin on Sunday. Merkel, 66, will not run for another term and her departure after 16 years in office has opened the field for who will lead Europe’s biggest economy.

Merkel has not taken sides in the race even though Laschet comes, like Merkel, from the CDU. While Merkel and Soeder clashed during Germany’s 2015-16 refugee crisis, the leader of Bavaria’s regional Christian Social Union party has backed her push for restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Laschet, meanwhile, was criticised by Merkel for a lax response in his home state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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“We determined that both of us are suitable and both of us are ready, Soeder told reporters after the meeting. “Whatever the decision turns out to be, we will work very well personally together.”

The CDU and the CSU traditionally field a joint candidate for chancellor, but Soeder’s entry into the race signals a gloves-off contest between two sister parties whose alliance has helped ensure Germany’s political stability since the end of World War II. His announcement throws the ball into the court of the CDU, where some members are known to favour him over Laschet.

On Sunday, both candidates made signalled support for quick approval of Merkel’s planned changes of Germany’s infectious-diseases law, which would shift some powers to the federal government from the states. Other state leaders have demanded changes to the draft law circulated on Saturday.

The next steps in the candidacy face-off could come when the CDU and CSU leaderships meet separately on Monday.

Polls suggest that Soeder, who’s the state premier of Bavaria, is far more popular than Laschet. However, both candidates from socially conservative Bavaria who ran for chancellor in the past were defeated.

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Laschet said “we have a very special responsibility” to keep Germany stable.

“Our goal at this time, with a chancellor who is leaving office, is to foster as much unity between the CDU and CSU as possible,” Laschet said. “There’s a lot at stake. Europe is watching how Germany develops.”

Soeder said he is ready to run if the CDU, the bigger of the two parties, backs him, but that he would hold no grudges if they decided otherwise.

Armin Laschet, Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader. Photo: Bloomberg

Laschet, the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, described Soeder as a potential candidate and said the matter would be solved with mutual respect.

While Germany’s chancellor is chosen by the lower house of parliament after elections, Soeder would take a winning 39 per cent in a direct match-up with Green party leader Annalena Baerbock and Social Democratic candidate Olaf Scholz, Germany’s finance minister, according to a Forsa poll. By contrast, Laschet’s support is 16 per cent, finishing behind the other two.

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