German politician and minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer secured her position as chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) this past weekend. However, at the party congress, the question of who should be the candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in the next elections remains open for now.
When Merkel put her forward as party chairwoman last year, many assumed that Merkel also viewed her as a good candidate for the chancellorship. But since assuming office as party chair in December last year, Kramp-Karrenbauer has been under scrutiny.
Within the CDU, the chairperson is traditionally the first in line to be the candidate for chancellor in the federal elections. The idea that Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer could potentially become Merkel’s successor in 2021 does not sit well with everyone.
Promotion
Some see her as a clone of Merkel, while others believe she is not strong enough. There is fierce debate within the CDU about how to win back voter support. Is AKK the right chairwoman to accomplish that task? Since the CDU’s poor results in the European elections, AKK has been under pressure.
At the party congress in Leipzig, she took the offensive by calling for a vote of confidence. The majority of the party then rallied behind the chairwoman. But that does not yet guarantee her position as a potential chancellor candidate; at least, it is postponed. Before the next party congress, Kramp-Karrenbauer has to show successes in order to keep other potential candidates at bay.
The party congress rejected a motion that questioned the difficult compromise with the SPD over the basic pension. However, stricter conditions were formulated. This could pose a problem with coalition partner SPD, which wants to introduce the basic pension quickly. The Social Democrats have their party congress on December 6.
The traditional parties are no longer performing as well in Germany. The days when the CDU and SPD together secured 69.4% of the vote are fourteen years back. Now it is less than fifty percent. The SPD recently reached a historic low of 14% in polls, and the CDU has also fallen below 30%. Without the CSU, which remains strong in Bavaria, the Union would look even weaker.
In the European elections, the Christian Democrats took another heavy hit (28.9%, a loss of 6.4%), and in the state elections in the eastern German state of Thuringia at the end of October, the CDU only scored 21.7% (a loss of 11.8%).