Angela Merkel Succession: Markus Soeder, Armin Laschet Trade Barbs

Photographer: Michaela Handrek-Rehle / Bloomberg

Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder presented himself as a force for change who could revive the fortunes of the German conservatives when he made his bid to follow Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top of the bloc’s election bill.

His rival for the candidacy in the September federal vote, Armin Laschet, said Soeder is changing his mind a little too easily, accusing him of opportunism and lack of principles, according to officials attending a private meeting with lawmakers.

The battle to claim the mantelpiece from Merkel’s successor draws to a close, with the two contenders increasingly exchanging barbed attacks that have alarmed senior officials from their bloc. Both said the matter should be resolved by Friday.

“Armin and I have agreed that we will have a final discussion this week,” Soeder told reporters afterwards. “We have to let the outcome of this discussion sink in a bit.”

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and Soeder’s Bavarian sister party have seen their polls tumble in recent weeks, amid growing concerns about the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Merkel herself is concerned that the spectacle of a public brawl between the two leading figures of the bloc will further damage the bloc’s reputation with voters, said a person familiar with her thinking.

Tight Race

The German conservatives are under pressure to keep their lead

After initially being bald at the prospect of a direct clash, Laschet, the leader of the much larger CDU, was prompted to attend Tuesday’s meeting after Soeder on Monday swore his pitch directly before the parliamentary caucus. alliance. Wednesday night, Soeder will appear on a prime time German talk show to highlight his potential appeal to voters.

Laschet has had precedent on his side – the Munich-based CSU has never elected a chancellor, and the CDU almost always supplies the bloc’s candidate – as does the organizational strength of the CDU hierarchy. But he failed to hit the voters.

“We need unity quickly,” he said as he left the meeting. “This was a good discussion that we will have to include in our decision.”

Grassroots Revolt

Soeder is betting that CDU lawmakers concerned about losing their seats could be persuaded to back his claim rather than their boss’s, and several spoke out to support him at the rally. One said members in his district have said they will not campaign for Laschet and will read emails from some who threatened to leave the party if he became a candidate, officials said.

Soeder was also criticized, with a CDU lawmaker saying he has no backbone, attacking him for flip-flopping.

In his speech before the caucus, Soeder argued that the CDU / CSU cannot afford to ignore the poll numbers that predict the worst federal election result in their history and that things will no longer work as usual, officials in attendance said. He presented himself as a candidate who could come into contact with a new generation of voters through television and social media.