Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday September 5 defended Armin Laschet, her conservative runner-up, in difficulty in the polls a few weeks before the legislative elections, during a visit to the flooded areas of Germany.
Read also Germany: in the Rhineland, anti-coal protesters target Armin Laschet
Armin Laschet, candidate of the conservative camp in the elections of September 26, head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and head of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia "
leads the largest state in Germany with great success
" , said Angela Merkel during her visit to this region of the areas affected by the historic floods of July 14 and 15.
"
Someone who shows himself capable of leading a state like this, is capable of leading Germany as chancellor,
" she added alongside Armin Laschet, appointed by the CDU to succeed him after 16 years. in power.
However, unlike the Chancellor who enjoys record popularity - when she will leave political life after the legislative elections of September 26 - Armin Laschet is in disarray in the polls.
Still credited with 34% at the start of the year, the conservative CDU / CSU only collects 20% of voting intentions, according to a poll published Thursday by the ARD channel, against 25% for the Social Democrats of the SPD and their candidate Olaf Scholz.
Angela Merkel invests more in the home stretch, putting her popularity at the service of the leader of the conservatives, considered to be not very credible even in her own camp.
She had already given him firm support on August 21, during a meeting in Berlin, saying that she was "
deeply convinced
" that he would succeed her in the chancellery.
In July, Armin Laschet, 60, was hilarious days after the disaster, during a serious speech by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, arousing outrage in the country and forcing him to apologize .