The two leaders of Germany’s conservatives have agreed to nominate Christian Democrat (CDU) chief Friedrich Merz to run as chancellor in next year’s federal election, party sources said on Tuesday.
Markus Soeder, head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), will stand aside, two party sources told Reuters.
That clears the way for Merz, 68, an economic liberal who has driven the party to the right since becoming party chief in 2022 after Angela Merkel’s 16-year hold on the chancellery. In particular, he has called for a tougher line on migration.
Merz and Soeder are due to hold a joint news conference at noon (1000 GMT) amid speculation they will officially announce which one of them will be the candidate.
The conservative bloc is leading opinion polls in Germany , with some surveys even putting it ahead of the combined support for the three parties in Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP).
Another possible candidate for the conservative nomination, North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wuest, said on Monday he would not join the race and that he backed Merz.
Earlier, Bloomberg News had cited a person familiar with the decision as saying Merz would run as the conservative candidate for chancellor in the election.
There was no comment from the CDU or CSU. But by nominating Merz for chancellor a year ahead of elections, the conservatives appear to have avoided a messy dispute over who will run. Whether Merz given his low personal ratings can capture the chancellor’s office is another question.
Recent opinion polls suggest the CDU/CSU is well placed to return to power. Support for the alliance has risen to the highest level in the last three years, according to a survey published in the Bild Am Sontag newspaper recently.
The CDU/CSU is at 33%, up two percentage points from the previous week to the highest since Feb 2021, while the far right AFD is in second place with 19% support.
With Reuters inputs
