Merkel ally is new party leader
HAMBURG, Germany — German conservatives on Friday elected an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel to become her party’s new leader — giving her the challenge of opening a new chapter and improving the party’s electoral fortunes after 18 years under Merkel.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, narrowly defeated one-time Merkel rival Friedrich Merz at a congress of the centerright Christian Democratic Union. The result points to policy continuity, and Kramp-Karrenbauer should be able to work well with Merkel as she serves out her term as chancellor.
Kramp-Karrenbauer won a runoff vote by 517 votes to Merz’s 482 after a third candidate, Health Minister Jens Spahn, was eliminated in a first round of voting.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, previously the CDU’s general secretary, embraced Merkel and was quick to call for unity after the vote, saying “there is a place in this party” for her defeated leadership rivals.
Merkel announced in October she would give up the party’s reins but plans to remain chancellor until her current term ends in 2021. However, it’s possible that Germany’s next general election could come earlier.
Kramp-Karrenbauer — often known as “AKK” — will be the favorite to run for chancellor in the next election, though that isn’t automatic. She becomes only the eighth leader of the CDU since World War II. All but two of her predecessors served as chancellor.
She was the closest of the three candidates to Merkel’s centrist stance, though she is no Merkel clone and has consistently shown a greater willingness to cater to conservative rhetoric.
In recent weeks, the new party leader sought to put a careful distance between herself and Merkel without disavowing her, saying she has had “very lively discussions” with the chancellor on various subjects.
She has talked tough on immigration issues, proposing a lifelong entry ban to Europe for asylumseekers convicted of serious crimes. But she has warned that endlessly rehashing debates about Merkel’s decision to allow in large numbers of migrants in 2015 is a turn-off for voters.
Kramp-Karrenbauer’s pitch centered on her own lengthy experience in regional government, which saw her become the first woman to become a German state’s interior minister, or top security official, and serve as governor of western Saarland state. She gave up that job in February to become the CDU general secretary, in charge of day-to-day strategy.
Kramp-Karrenbauer says she knows how to win elections, having defied expectations to win re-election in Saarland by a wide margin last year.
Merkel has been CDU leader since 2000 and chancellor since 2005. She has moved her party relentlessly to the center, dropping military conscription, accelerating Germany’s exit from nuclear energy and introducing benefits encouraging fathers to look after their young children. She also allowed the introduction of gay marriage, which Kramp-Karrenbauer was more vehement in opposing.
In a farewell speech as leader, Merkel said Friday that “our CDU today is different from the year 2000, and that is a good thing.”
Merkel was greeted by a long standing ovation, with some delegates holding up “Thank you, boss” placards. Geir Moulson and Kerstin Sopke are Associated Press writers.