On Saturday 16 January, Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the country’s leading political party that has been on top since 2005, elected a new leader following the resignation of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Who has taken her place? And what does this mean for Germany’s federal election on 26 September?
“Shoes insufficiently filled, the hunt for Merkel’s successor started once again.”
When Angela Merkel announced that she would be stepping down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 2018, it was clear that her replacement would have enormous shoes to fill. The Chancellor, who was named as the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in December, has been Germany’s steadfast leader for 16 years and has been at the helm of the CDU for 18 years following her election in 2000, which made her the first ever chairwoman of a German political party.
On 7 December 2018, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer became the second woman to chair the party, having long been touted as Merkel’s preferred successor. Kramp-Karrenbauer’s stretch as leader was short-lived however, as just 14 months later she announced her resignation after she struggled to assert her authority within the party. This was most clearly shown when the Thuringia branch of the CDU sided with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to oust the state’s left-wing leader, ignoring the CDU’s adamant refusal to cooperate with the populist party.
Shoes insufficiently filled, the hunt for Merkel’s successor started once again.
Who would take Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s place?
Politicians jostled once again to chair the party that has been at the forefront of German politics since 1945, and the race came to a head on 16 January at the CDU Digital Conference, almost nine months later than originally scheduled thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
While all three candidates appeared to be cut from very similar cloth – all white men in their 50s and 60s, hailing from North-Rhine Westphalia in western Germany and boasting a background in law – their political stances spanned the range of the centre-right CDU party.
Friedrich Merz had narrowly lost the party leadership contest to Kramp-Karrenbauer in 2018, and represented the more right-leaning members of the party. In recent years he has been critical of EU policies and has drawn negative media attention following comments he made about the possibility of Germany electing a gay Chancellor.
Norbert Röttgen represented the more progressive side of the party, and the former environment minister’s election efforts included a vibrant digital campaign aimed at women and younger voters, as well as a specially designed Spotify playlist. He is also deemed to be one of Berlin’s most credible voices when it comes to international affairs.
And finally there was Armin Laschet, the deputy CDU leader who was widely described as the “Merkel continuation candidate”. Laschet had also strongly defended the Chancellor’s controversial decision to welcome 1.3 million refugees into Germany during the migrant crisis in 2015.
At the digital conference on Saturday, each candidate took to the podium to deliver a speech in a last-minute attempt to sway the 1,001 party delegates who would vote for the next chairman of the CDU.
Of the three speeches, the stand-out moment was perhaps when Friedrich Merz opted to “give a word to women” in an attempt to rectify suggestions that he was sexist, saying: “If that were the case, then my daughter would have given me the yellow card a long time ago and my wife wouldn’t have married me 40 years ago”. This came after #WirFrauengegenMerz (“We women against Merz”) had trended on Twitter in the previous weeks and the CDU’s women’s association had endorsed both of Merz’s rivals as preferable choices.
After the first round of voting, Röttgen was eliminated from the competition, having only received 224 votes compared to Laschet’s 380 and Merz’s 385.
The second and final round was close but with 52% of the vote, Armin Laschet was named the new chairman of the CDU and the news was greeted with enthusiastic elbow bumps on-stage as his team attempted to celebrate in a coronavirus-friendly manner.
The Merkel era continues?
While Angela Merkel served as leader of the CDU and Chancellor concurrently for 13 years, the two positions aren’t intrinsically linked, and so while Laschet’s appointment may impact Germany’s general election result on 26 September, he is in no way guaranteed the spot – in fact, he has yet to declare whether he will run at all.
And while the CDU has ruled the roost for a long time, it isn’t a given that the party will come out on top in the autumn election.
“Armin Laschet may have won over his party in Saturday’s CDU leadership contest, but the world will be watching closely to see who the party puts forward to represent Germany on the world stage”
According to the latest poll by television broadcaster ZDF, it is the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the CDU, Markus Söder who is ahead in terms of public opinion, with 54% of those polled deeming him fit for the role of Chancellor. Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party came in second with 45%, and 32% thought that the Minister of Health and CDU member Jens Spahn would be best-suited to the role.
All three of the CDU leadership candidates were notably absent from the top spots. Both Norbert Röttgen and Friedrich Merz were believed to be Chancellor material by 29% of those polled, while 28% had faith in the newly elected Armin Laschet to take over from Angela Merkel in September.
Armin Laschet may have won over his party in Saturday’s CDU leadership contest, but the world will be watching closely to see who the party puts forward to represent Germany on the world stage and to take on what is arguably the most powerful job in Europe.
Hannah Ward-Glenton
Featured image courtesy of Håkon Sataøen on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.