BERLIN – The first two German parties announced their candidates for chancellor early Monday and Tuesday mornings, and the Greens sent their dynamic but inexperienced leader, 40-year-old Annalena Baerbock, to fight Armin Laschet in The 60-year-old leader of the largest Conservative party, who triumphed after a divisive power struggle.
Along with 62-year-old Olaf Scholz, who is running for the Social Democrats, the nominations have strengthened the field of candidates who want to replace Angela Merkel, who will leave the political stage in September after 16 years as chancellor. The race will for the first time pit a member of the country’s post-reunification generation, Mrs Baerbock, against her traditional political forces.
With polls showing the Greens in second place nationally behind the Conservatives, with about 22% support, the Greens have a real crack at the chancellery for the first time since the party took modern form in 1993. Ms Baerbock is the Greens. . the first serious candidate for chancellor, although most likely should rely on the support of other parties to build a coalition government.
The Conservative election of Mr Laschet, leader of the Christian Democratic Union and governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, has been followed by days of divergent debate, reflecting the challenges facing the Conservatives as they redefine themselves as Mrs Merkel prepares to leave the chancellor’s office.
Although the Conservatives remain the strongest party, with less than 30% support, the bitter dispute over their candidate for chancellor has strained unity within the bloc, threatening to alienate voters. The party also suffered from an increasingly rocky response to the pandemic and a slow launch of the vaccine, seeing its popularity drop by 10 percentage points since the beginning of the year.
But last week for the Conservatives was dominated by the total fight for the nomination between Mr Laschet and the leader of the small Bavarian Christian Social Union, Markus Söder, 54.
Mr Söder was supported by his popularity among Germans and tried to use this to snatch the candidacy for chancellor from Mr Laschet, whose consensus-oriented style had so far failed to excite voters. Mr. Söder’s challenge overcame a decades-old tradition of allowing the leader of the Christian Democratic Union to be the implicit candidate for government.
Christian Democrat executive committee leaders voted broadly for Mr Laschet on Tuesday morning, the party said, hours after Mr Söder gave a statement in which he agreed to accept the decision of the Christian Democratic leadership while trying to position itself as the first candidate.
The influential leaders of the Christian Democrats had been worried about electing Mr. Söder. Others saw Mr Laschet’s strong political network and focus on building consensus as the necessary traits to lead the country to a post-Merkel future.
Instead, the appointment of Mrs Baerbock to replace the other Greens co-leader, Robert Habeck, 51, was harmonious. The party is positioning itself to appeal not only to Germans attracted by its traditional position on environmental protection, but also to those seeking a more dynamic and younger presence in a country under the same 16-year-old Conservative chancellor.
“I want to make an offer with my candidacy for the whole society,” said Ms Baerbock in her acceptance speech, in which she called for an improvement in the situation of Germans in rural areas and low-wage workers. She also emphasized the importance of ensuring that Germany meets its climate change emission reduction targets while remaining an industrial power.
Co-leader of her 2018 party, Ms Baerbock is respected for her attention to detail and preference for honest criticism and suggestions for improvement over weak praise or growing speeches. Accepting Monday’s candidacy, she acknowledged her lack of experience in frontal political positions, showing her as a force to help her and her party revive Germany.
“I have never been a chancellor and never a minister,” said Ms Baerbock. “I am running for renewal, the others are the status quo,” she said, adding: “I think this country needs a fresh start.”
Conservatives have dominated Germany’s modern political landscape and held the chancellery for all but seven of the last 30 years, when the Social Democrats led the country from 1998 to 2005 in coalition with the Greens as a junior partner.
Mrs. Baerbock, the only woman in the race, was born in 1980 and grew up outside Hanover. She now lives with her husband and their two children in eastern Brandenburg, where she served as green leader for four years, until 2013.
“I come from a generation that is no longer young, but not old, a generation that grew up in a united Germany and a common Europe,” she said.
Ms. Baerbock often referred to her experience as a competitive springboarder as shaping her political approach, emphasizing the importance of courage and teamwork. She has earned a reputation as a tough negotiator, both in talks on Germany’s plan to give up coal and in its 2017 negotiations with Mrs Merkel’s party for a potential three-way coalition that collapsed when the Free Democrats, the traditional market party free from Germany, they fired.
Mr Laschet’s popularity has waned both on the national stage, where he is seen as lacking in charisma, and in his home state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where more than half of the population said they were dissatisfied with his performance. He established himself in the race to lead the Christian Democrats through a speech that called for unity and trust, which was based on his personal history as the son of a miner who grew up in the industrial heart of Germany, which helped him overcome a campaign in largely devoid of light.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed to the reporting.