Germany's Christian Democrat Union opposition party seems set to elect its first woman leader next Monday. After the months-long financial scandal ended the career of former leader Mr Wolfgang Schauble, Ms Angela Merkel has emerged from her position as party general secretary to become the front runner for the leadership.
What seemed insurmountable obstacles to the leadership have fallen away, not least the early candidature of Mr Volker Ruhe, a minister under Dr Helmut Kohl. Rumbling resistance from the CDU's sister party in Bavaria, the Catholic CSU, because of her Protestant faith, her gender and her East German origins has also been quietened.
Ms Merkel's consistently clean hands on party finance and her early criticism of Dr Kohl's refusal to name the illegal donors seem to have won over all her detractors. Her candidacy was backed yesterday by the influential head of the CDU in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, Mr Jurgen Ruttgers. But the task facing her is a tough one - she must rebuild the party's credibility in the country in the wake of the financial scandals.