Angela Merkel's Christian-conservative CDU party will elect its new leader in early December, likely to become chancellor in 2021, during a congress that will take place over a single day because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The congress will take place on December 4 in Stuttgart (southwest), party secretary general Paul Ziemiak told reporters on Monday.
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Three candidates are in the running to succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, considered for a time as the “
runner-up
” of Merkel but who decided in February to leave her post for lack of authority over her troops.
A congress was to be organized in April to decide between the three candidates but was postponed to December due to the new coronavirus.
CDU activists will have to choose between moderate Armin Laschet, head of the most populous region, North Rhine-Westphalia, liberal Friedrich Merz, a historic opponent of Merkel, and Norbert Röttgen, an expert in foreign politic.
The winner has every chance of being the right-wing candidate in the legislative elections in September 2021, after which Merkel must step down after 16 years in the chancellery.
Another candidate, however, could wear the colors of the conservative camp, the Bavarian leader Markus Söder.
Mr Söder, who is in charge of the CDU's sister party, the CSU, has become one of the most popular figures in Germany thanks to his management, considered effective, of the pandemic in Bavaria.
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