Merkel’s Party to Meet in January as Leadership Contest Looms

(Bloomberg) -- Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union plans to meet in January as the party prepares to select the leader who will take it into next year’s elections.

Three candidates are competing for prime position to replace Merkel, who will step down as chancellor after 16 years running Europe’s largest economy. Germany’s ruling party had originally planned to stage an in-person convention on Dec. 4, but delayed it as coronavirus infections surge. The country will start a one-month partial lockdown on Monday.

The assembly of about 1,000 delegates will take place in the middle of January in person and can be divided into regional chapters or held as virtual meeting as a last resort should infections continue to rise, Secretary General Paul Ziemiak said in a tweet. The announcement came after party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer warned on Saturday that the ongoing internal haggling over the party convention could backfire for the ruling party.

The move should reassure Friedrich Merz, a longtime Merkel rival who is one of the favorites and opposed delaying the meeting. The conservative politician has accused some of trying to sideline him at a time when his popularity has been rising among the party’s rank and file even though he’s relatively unpopular among the broader electorate. The 64-year-old was pushed out of the CDU inner circle by Merkel nearly two decades ago.

Armin Laschet, the moderate leader of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has been pushing to postpone the meeting, which could give him time to lift his profile and to respond to Merz’s challenge. Norbert Roettgen, chairman of the foreign policy committee in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, is also running.

The extended leadership battle reflects badly on the CDU, which is largely in charge of the country’s pandemic response. A poll published Saturday by the Forsa institute showed the CDU and its coalition partners lost one percentage point while opposition parties gained the same amount. The CDU coalition maintained its lead with 35% in the poll.

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