CDU members choose Merkel rival Friedrich Merz as new leader

Germany’s opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) broke with the era of Angela Merkel on Friday after party members voted overwhelmingly to elect Friedrich Merz, one of her arch-rivals, as new party chairman.

On his third attempt in three years, Mr Merz secured 62 per cent of the membership vote, giving him a clear majority over two other candidates.

Some 64 per cent of the CDU’s 400,000 members participated in the hybrid poll, a mix of online and postal votes.

“When I heard I said ‘wow’, but very quietly, triumphant cheers are alien to me,” said Mr Merz, a 66-year-old multimillionaire lawyer with a pilot’s licence.

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He served as party deputy to Dr Merkel but left politics 20 years ago when she sidelined him.

When Dr Merkel stepped down as leader in 2018, hand-picked CDU delegates chose Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Dr Merkel’s favoured candidate, who had a luckless run and announced her resignation after 14 months.

Pandemic organisational difficulties left the CDU unable to choose a new leader – Armin Laschet – until last January. After September’s election debacle, he promised to stand down when a new leader was chosen.

After two disastrous picks by party delegates, a rebellion among rank-and-file CDU members forced the party to agree to choose its next leader by popular vote for the first time.

Friday’s result now goes to a party conference on January 21st, where Mr Merz’s election is viewed as a formality.

During his third leadership bid, Mr Merz tackled head on claims he would end the CDU’s centrist position of the 18-year Merkel era.

“With me there will be no right-wing pivot in the CDU, no axis shift,” he promised.

‘Full spectrum’

Mr Merz is close to the CDU’s economic liberal wing, with considerable support in southwestern Germany and eastern regions.

On Friday he promised to make the CDU a home to “different politicals and opinions” that represent the “full spectrum” of the party.

“I, at least, will do everything I can to achieve this,” he said.

That was seen by some as a swipe at Dr Merkel, whom he accuses of neglecting CDU conservatives in her push to the political middle ground. Other saw Mr Merz’s remark as a dig at the CDU’s centrist Merkel-allied wing, whom he accused of thwarting his previous leadership bids.

Two centrist candidates, Helge Braun and Norbert Röttgen – Dr Merkel’s chief of staff and a former cabinet minister respectively – scored less than 38 per cent between them, putting the ex-chancellor’s loyalists on the back foot in the CDU as it regroups in opposition.

Disoriented after its massive election defeat, some analysts suggested Mr Merz could help consolidate the party after 16 years in power. But questions remain over whether Mr Merz, just 16 months younger than Dr Merkel, offers the party a long-term perspective.

“It’s a tragedy for a party that wants to push forward in the future,” said Klaus Schubert, political scientist at the University of Münster, “to choose someone who left 20 years ago and only succeeded now on the third attempt.”