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Many in the CDU have significant doubts as to whether they voted for the right chairperson last year. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's narrow victory over Friedrich Merz did not pacify the party. The power struggle continued after that, as if there had been no decision. Merz made it clear that he is still available as an alternative. Kramp-Karrenbauer contributed with a number of mistakes that this is still an option.
But it was clear that the CDU would not decide the leadership question at the Leipzig party congress. And not only because there is no formal choice. Christian Democrats do not change their chair after one year. That at least distinguishes her from the Social Democrats.
Kramp-Karrenbauer said right at the beginning of their speech that people were not interested in personnel disputes. Nowhere else did her audiences applaud so violently. They were annoyed by Merz's attacks on Merkel and the federal government. They did not want a new edition of the duel Merz against Kramp-Karrenbauer. The hoped-for revolution was canceled early.
That was good news for the party leader. All the more incomprehensible, that it provided without any need for the most dramatic moment of the congress. She could have dispelled doubts about her aptitude with a strong speech. She could have given an idea of where she wanted to take the CDU. Instead, she said that if the party did not want to go its own way, "let's end it today, too." For a moment it was dead quiet in the hall.
If the chairperson asks the leadership question herself, then it is open
Kramp-Karrenbauer could not have expressed more clearly how precarious her position was with these words. The question of confidence is posed by politicians when they know no other way out. She is the weapon of the weak. Whoever poses throws his political survival into the balance. The question of confidence can only rarely be used in a politician's life.
Ironically, Kramp-Karrenbauer is responsible for ensuring that the Party Congress will remember the unresolved question of power. What Merz could not do, his adversary has done for him. Politicians like to complain that journalists are not interested in their content, but only for personnel debates. The CDU boss has fueled this debate herself.
If the chairperson asks the leadership question herself, then it is open. And it stays that way because there is no way in Leipzig to clarify it. The fact that the delegates applauded for several minutes after Kramp-Karrenbauer's speech does not mean anything. That no one stood up to challenge the chair directly, either.
Personnel discussions should be held when they are due. This elementary principle of political prudence has hurt Kramp-Karrenbauer. In one year, the Union wants to appoint its chancellor candidate. Then Kramp-Karrenbauer has to face a vote of confidence anyway. It would have been better if she had waited until then.