Merkel’s party may delay leadership vote until December, CDU chief says

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) will likely delay the election of a new chief until December due to the coronavirus, according to current leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

“The nearer we get to the summer break with a possible special party conference, the less the need for a conference that will take place just a few weeks before the normal one,” dpa quoted  Kramp-Karrenbauer as saying on Tuesday.

The new leader will be in pole position to run as chancellor in the next federal election. Merkel has said she will not seek a fifth term. Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merkel’s protege, said in February she would step aside after a scandal over a regional branch of the CDU voting with the right-wing to elect a state leader from a third party.

The new CDU leader would be a favorite to run as chancellor in the next election, due by October 2021, but Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) has to agree and may even prefer its own leader, Markus Soeder, to be the candidate, Reuters said.