Angela Merkel Succession: Markus Soeder, Armin Laschet Trade Barbs

Photographer: Michaela Handrek-Rehle / Bloomberg

Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder has emerged as a force for change that can revive German conservatives’ fortunes, while stepping up his bid to follow Chancellor Angela Merkel at the helm of the bloc’s election ticket.

His rival for the September national candidacy, Armin Laschet, responded by saying that Soeder changes his mind a little too easily, accusing him of opportunism and lack of principles, according to officials present at a private meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday.

The battle to claim the mantle of Merkel’s successor is directed at the two suitors, changing increasingly thicker attacks that have alarmed senior officials in their alliance. Both said the issue should be resolved by Friday.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and her Soeder-led Bavarian sister party have seen the number of polls fall amid growing concern over how the government treats the coronavirus pandemic. Merkel is worried that the spectacle of a public fight between the two personalities of the bloc will continue to affect her position, according to a person familiar with her thinking.

Johann Wadephul, a deputy leader of the CDU-CSU parliamentary group, said Tuesday’s four-hour caucus meeting went in Soeder’s way, with many lawmakers on both sides calling for support in their constituencies across Germany.

“There have been many members of my political group who support Markus Soeder,” Wadephul said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. “That’s what they heard in their constituencies, and that’s what I heard in my constituency.”

After initially rejecting the prospect of a direct clash, Laschet, the much larger CDU leader, was trained to join Tuesday’s meeting after Soeder promised to take a direct step. On Wednesday night, Soeder will appear on a popular German talk show, highlighting his potential appeal to voters.

Polls have consistently shown that he will comfortably defeat his main rivals if there is a direct vote for the chancellor, while Laschet loses.

Of the 2,500 people surveyed in a Forsa poll for the RTL broadcaster published on Wednesday, 39% said they would choose Soeder. It is about double the result for green co-leaders Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock and compares to 14% for Social Democrat candidate Olaf Scholz. In a similar vote, Laschet would score only 16% and would be in third place.

However, the CDU president has a precedent on his side – the CSU in Munich has never elected a chancellor and the CDU almost always offers the bloc’s candidate – as well as the organizational muscle of his party’s hierarchy. But he failed to reach an agreement with voters.

“We need unity quickly,” Laschet said as he left Tuesday’s meeting. “It was a good discussion that we will have to consider in our decision.”