CDU leader to vie for Germany's top job

Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, will try to become the nation's chancellor in next year's federal election.

Merz will be the sole representative of the center right in the contest, the Reuters news agency reported, after Markus Soeder, leader of the Christian Democratic Union's sister party, the Christian Social Union, or CSU, ruled himself out of standing by saying he wanted Merz to maximize his support.

"The chancellor question has been decided. Friedrich Merz is doing it," Soeder said at a news conference on Tuesday following speculation both would stand. "I'm fine about that, and I support it unequivocally."

North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wuest, another possible center-right candidate, has also said he will not seek the job of chancellor but instead support Merz.

As he announced his candidacy, Merz said: "We want to take over the leadership of this country …with policies that take Germany forward (and) get the country functioning again."

The CDU was the main political force in Germany for decades and was led by former chancellor Angela Merkel throughout her 16 years at the helm.

Merz, who took over as party leader in 2022, has since taken the CDU farther to the right, in a bid to reclaim votes from far-right parties, including Alternative for Germany, or AfD, that have fed off voters' fears about irregular migration into the nation.

Merz will face off next year against Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is leading a three-party coalition government that includes his Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party.

But Scholz's popularity has nosedived in recent months and opinion polls have the CDU/CSU coalition in first place, 19 points ahead of Scholz's coalition, suggesting a change of government is likely. The far-right AfD is in second place.

Scholz's coalition, which performed poorly in recent elections in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony, will be tested again on Sunday, during elections in the state of Brandenburg.

Merz is likely to campaign during next year's federal election on reducing migration into the country, improving Germany's economy, streamlining its welfare system and promoting business. Scholz is expected to offer voters more generous pensions and child-friendly policies. The CDU, if elected, will focus on improving "conditions for everyone, not allocating subsidies to the few".