German Conservatives Nominate Friedrich Merz to Challenge Scholz Next Year
(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s opposition conservative alliance formally nominated Christian Democratic Union Chairman Friedrich Merz to challenge Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz in next year’s national election.
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Merz effectively sealed the nomination last week after his main rivals withdrew. The CDU leader typically runs as the lead candidate for the conservative bloc, which includes its smaller sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union.
“I accept this task not only with gratitude but also with great humility,” Merz said Monday at a news conference in Berlin. “I know what it means and I know what responsibility it comes with for the coming 12 months.”
Merz’s selection just over a year before the vote spared the conservatives the kind of prolonged dispute over the candidacy that damaged their chances of victory before the most-recent national ballot in 2021.
However, his weak personal approval ratings have raised doubts about whether he can recapture the chancellery. In Sunday’s regional election in Brandenburg, the CDU came fourth with 12% - their third-worst result in any regional German ballot since World War II.
Polls suggest that if Germans could vote directly for their head of government, it would likely be a close contest. According to an Insa survey published at the weekend, both Scholz, 66, and Merz, 68, would get 30% of the vote. More than a third, or 35%, wouldn’t pick either man.
Still, the Insa poll put the CDU/CSU bloc at 32% if the election were held now. That’s more than the combined total of 29% of all three parties in Scholz’s ruling coalition — his Social Democrats (15%), the Greens (10%) and the Free Democrats (4%).
The far-right Alternative for Germany is in second place at 20%, while the BSW — a new far-left party founded in January — is at 10%.
Merz signaled last week that the CDU/CSU is unlikely to partner with the Greens if it wins the election, suggesting a so-called “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats as junior partner would be the most probable outcome as things stand.
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