Angela Merkel’s party in chaos after her “heir” says she won’t enter the race for chancellor next year

Angela Merkel’s party was thrown into crisis today as the chancellor’s heir apparent quit the race for the top job.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced she was resigning as party leader and would not seek the chancellorship when Merkel stands down at next year’s election. 

AKK, as she is widely known, had been the favourite to succeed Merkel since she was elected party chair in 2018 but her leadership of the CDU has been plagued by gaffes and party divisions. 

She finally threw in the towel today after a bitter row over the CDU’s role in electing a state premier in Thuringia with the help of the far-right AfD last week. 

Merkel’s spokesman said today that the chancellor would still stand down in 2021 – leaving the succession in turmoil.  

Kramp-Karrenbauer said today that she had endured a ‘difficult time’ as party leader. 

‘At present, we can feel powerful centrifugal forces in our society and in our party,’ she told reporters in Berlin. 

The 57-year-old will stand down as party chair and will not seek the chancellorship in 2021, but remains defence minister for now.  

Economy minister and close Merkel ally Peter Altmaier said today’s developments were an ‘unusually serious situation for the CDU’. 

Merkel, who has been chancellor of Germany since 2005, announced in 2018 that she would not seek a fifth term at next year’s election. 

The 65-year-old had seen her authority weakened by poor state election results as her party was outflanked on the right by the anti-immigrant AfD. 

Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected party chair in December 2018 and appeared set to succeed Merkel, but failed to stamp her authority on the CDU and made a series of gaffes. 

Last May she faced a backlash after appearing to call for online censorship in response to a viral YouTube video which took aim at her party. 

She also drew sharp criticism from her Social Democrat coalition partners for poking fun at transgender people in a light-hearted carnival speech.    

Her appointment as defence minister, intended to boost her credentials, also embroiled her in a series of difficulties with the German army. 

Last week the party was divided further after regional CDU lawmakers went rogue and voted with the far-right AfD to oust a left-wing state premier in Thuringia.   

The result broke a post-war taboo about aligning with the far right in a country still haunted by its Nazi past. 

Merkel rebuked her party colleagues and Kramp-Karrenbauer said today that ‘any convergence with the AfD weakens the CDU’.  

However, AKK said she did not believe her retreat would endanger ‘the stability of the grand coalition government’.

She said she hopes to set up a process for choosing the CDU’s election candidate by this summer.  

One possible candidate is Friedrich Merz, who was narrowly beaten by AKK for the party leadership in 2018 and has been waiting in the wings ever since. 

Just last week he gave up his job at BlackRock to ‘support the party more strongly in its renewal and re-enter politics’, he said.   

AKK’s decision to quit ‘deserves respect,’ Merz tweeted today.

‘I will give her every support to lead from the front the process for her succession and the chancellor candidacy.’