Markus Schreiber AP
BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s would-be successor said on Monday she will not run for the premiership following a rocky year at the helm of her party, which culminated in a crisis last week as regional representatives aligned with the far right.
The announcement from Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, that she will not run for chancellor in next year’s elections plunged the party, and the country, into political uncertainty.
Kramp-Karrenbauer said she will step aside as party leader when a new candidate for the premiership is chosen. “We are currently feeling strong centrifugal forces within our society and party,” she said in a news conference. “We have to be stronger, stronger than today.”
She said that she believed that the separation of the role of chancellor and the party leadership had weakened the Christian Democrats.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that Kramp-Karrenbauer wishes to remain defense minister and that Merkel supports that “wholeheartedly.”
[‘Black day’: German politics shaken as far right becomes regional kingmaker]
The move opens up the party leadership to more conservative strains within the Christian Democrats that want to steer it back to the right as it jettisons voters. A protegee of Merkel, Kramp-Karrenbauer beat out rivals to take over the reins of the conservative Christian Democrats in late 2018. However, she has failed to rally the party behind her, and there was widespread speculation that she would be ousted before the annual party conference in November after a series of missteps.
At that conference, she came out swinging against her rivals in a combative speech, but developments in the eastern German state of Thuringia last week left her authority in tatters.
The local branch of the Christian Democrats defied party guidance over political cooperation with the far right when it backed the same candidate for the state premiership in the Thuringia region as the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
The alignment shook German politics, breaking a pledge from mainstream parties that they would not cooperate with the far right. Spontaneous street demonstrations took place in German cities after the move, which was seen as a break in the post-World War II political consensus.
The resignation throws the Christian Democrats into a leadership crisis. Merkel, chancellor for more than 14 years, has said she will not stand for reelection in 2021 and stepped aside as party leader in a move designed to open the door for the new generation.
When Kramp-Karrenbauer won the party leadership in 2018, it was seen as affirmation of Merkel’s legacy. But analysts say holding the role of party leader without the chancellery has left Kramp-Karrenbauer in an inherently weak position.
Karrenbauer pointed to that on Monday when she said that she believed that going forward, the two roles should not be separated.
But public criticism of her leadership has also mounted. She was lampooned for insulting transgender people with a joke about gender-neutral bathrooms and for announcing support for a safe zone in Syria without consultation.
Kramp-Karrenbauer announced the news in a meeting with politicians from her party on Monday morning. “It was a shock,” said Elmar Brock, a veteran politician with the Christian Democrats who was present. He said that the party faces a “difficult” future but that a new clear leadership process could also bring opportunity.
Luisa Beck in Berlin contributed.
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Merkel’s preferred heir survives an effort to oust her, but Germany’s ruling party remains in crisis
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2020-02-10 14:23:00Z
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