Meanwhile @JeremyCliffe for New Statesman puts all of what's happening now into the wider context of how Merkel changed the CDU's voter coalition, and examines whether that can hold now
Also for FT (€) this long read by @guychazan has a lot of really interesting background about the candidates, and the ideological challenges the CDU faces
This @politicoeurope piece by Matthew Karnitschnig focusses only on Merz, but underlines how his inability to deal with criticism could become a problem, and that he's litigious
The speeches by the candidates start at 0930 CET tomorrow morning (Saturday 16 Sept), and #CDUVorsitz is the tag. The 1001 delegates will then vote online to decide the victor - probably in 2 rounds
I will be live-tweeting the whole thing
8/8
Ooops. Somehow I forgot the excellent @COdendahl@SophiaBesch overview for CER - that puts the whole thing into the context of Germany in the middle of the pandemic. it's long but very good!
Headline numbers - chances to be Chancellor Candidate
Laschet 5️⃣2️⃣%
Söder 4️⃣3️⃣%
Spahn 5️⃣%
Why is Laschet the slight favourite?
Essentially because I cannot see - in the time *before* the decision on the Chancellor Candidate is to be made - how things can go very badly for the CDU. And if the CDU is content, they will not call Söder
So the new CDU Party Leader #CDUvorsitz is known - it's Armin Laschet.
This 🧵 will explain why he won, explain what he means, and outline what happens next.
1/20
At the CDU's party congress today, the three candidates - Laschet, Friedrich Merz & Norbert Röttgen - gave 15 min speeches
That was the first signal of what was to come... Today we saw the very best of Laschet - playing the reliable, careful person, not heavy on detail
2/20
Merz by contrast gave an ill focused speech, and did not make a single reference to Merkel or AKK, the outgoing party leader. He seems to have learned nothing
Röttgen, long the outsider, gave a speech with a lot more detail - especially on green issues and the future
The key line: "Zieht er [Röttgen] seine Kandidatur für den Vorsitz durch, steigen die Chancen auf einen Sieg von Friedrich Merz."
"If he [Röttgen] continues his candidacy for leader, the chances of a victory for Friedrich Merz increase."
2/10
I'm pretty sure that's *not* right.
Why?
Because of the process
If Merz, Laschet and Röttgen were up against each other in a first past the post, 1 round election, it would be so. Merz would likely get +/- 40%, Röttgen and Laschet +/- 30% each, Merz would win
2021 is the end of Angela Merkel's time as Chancellor of 🇩🇪
The process to choose her successor starts this week
This 🧵 will explain all the important stages of this rather complex process!
1/25
There are three stages to this:
1️⃣ Merkel's CDU Party choses a new Party Leader on 16 Jan (tag: #CDUVorsitz)
2️⃣ Later in spring Members of the Bundestag of CDU and CSU choose who will be Chancellor Candidate
3️⃣ Bundestag Election 26 Sep, followed by coalition negotiations
2/25
1️⃣ CDU choses new Party Leader
Merkel has not been CDU party leader since 2018. Current leader - Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer - is stopping. 1001 Delegates at a party conference taking place digitally 15-16 Jan choose new Leader, in 2 rounds of voting. 3 candidates running