"I am not running again to lead the CDU", with these words the German chancellor Angela Merkel has announced her intention not to run again for leadership of the party she represented for 18 years. The congress of the Christian Democratic Union is scheduled for 8 December and it is on that occasion that the new president will be elected. The decision follows heavy electoral defeats in Bavaria and now in Hesse, where the CDU lost more than ten points, registering the worst result since 1966. The triumph is in the hands of the Greens.
The Spd is also disappointing, with 19,8%, like the Greens, who, however, broaden their electoral base by winning 8,7% more votes. The populist, anti-immigrant right-wing Alternative for Germany (Alternative fuer Deutschland, Afd) enters the Wiesbaden Landtag for the first time with 13,1% of the vote (+9% compared to 2013) and is now represented in parliaments of all 16 German federal states. The Liberals of the FDP obtained 7,5% of the votes (+ 2,5%) and Die Linke, the left-wing party, is also growing, achieving its best result with 6,3% (+ 1,1%) ever in Hesse.
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Angela Merkel also announced her exit from the Bundestag after the end of the current legislature which according to its natural deadline will end in 2021. "He will not run again for the presidency of his party", revealed an anonymous source inside the German Christian Democrats speaking to the AFP agency and confirming the rumors of the last few hours.
Merkel has always declared that the role of party leader and chancellor should be in the hands of the same person. With today's statements, therefore, a new chancellorship of yours is also excluded. Angela Merkel has also ruled out taking on roles in Europe in the future.
Among the contenders for the leadership of the CDU there could be the current secretary general, the very faithful Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, but also the right-wing critic of the chancellor, the health minister Jens Spahn, and the powerful governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet. Even one of his historic rivals, the former group leader Friedrich Merz seems ready to conquer the leadership of the party, according to rumors from the FAZ.
