The End of an era: Angela Merkel - and then? Part III

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged many governments and people in high-ranking positions to make the right choices in a situation where the right choice is not always the one welcomed by the voters. While the fight against the spread of the virus was the most important task of the politicians, the parties in Germany also had to prepare for the upcoming election in September 2021. Not only will the members of the Bundestag - the federal parliament- be elected, but they will also elect the successors of Chancellor Angela Merkel. More than two years have passed since Merkel’s announcement to resign after her current term, but it seems as if there is only slow progress in finding the right candidate(s) for her succession. 

Markus Söder (CSU) and Angela Merkel (Metodi Popow | imago images)

Until now, only the SPD (Social Democratic Party) has officially chosen its top candidate: Olaf Scholz, the current Federal Minister of Finance and Vice-Chancellor under Merkel. The CDU (Christian Democratic Party) and her Bavarian sister party CSU (Christian Social Party) seem to be too busy with internal power struggles. After Armin Laschet was elected Chairman of the CDU, it was still unclear who would run as the Union's top candidate. Markus Söder, the minister-president of Bavaria and chairman of the CSU, had repeatedly indicated that he would be interested in an office in Berlin. He is a strong personality, and while some say that it would be an unwise decision to leave behind his familiar connections in Bayern and step into completely new territory in Berlin, Söder is the most popular right now. Friedrich Merz, who already lost the election for party chairman in 2018, presents himself in public as a possible option, but his chance to be elected seems to be limited. There is even an active movement on Twitter called “WirFrauengegenMerz” (We women against Merz) that collectively speaks out against his candidacy.

While there is no official statement, it is certain that Christian Lindner, the Chairman of the FDP (Free Democratic Party) and main character of the “One man show” of the party, will run as their top candidate. Lindner previously struggled after FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected minister-president of Thuringia with the votes of the far-right party AfD. 

One thing the FDP, Union and the SPD have in common is that they all present the same type of candidate: a white, middle-aged man. 

The right-wing AfD (Alternative for Germany - whereby I would like to note that it is not an alternative) is busy trying to figure out how to stay in the center of attention when the news about the pandemic has pushed aside the party’s main topics: migration and refugees. While there is an internal power struggle between the right-wing leader Bernd Höcke and party leader Jörg Meuthen, Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland tend to maintain a calmer course as leaders of the Bundestag parliamentary group. But until now, there has been no statement over who could run as the party’s top candidate. 

The Left, the most left-wing party of the Bundestag, finds itself in the same situation. While Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, leader of the party's parliamentary group, announced to run for the federal chairmanship of the party, the question of a candidate for chancellor remains on the back burner. 

Annalena Baerbock from the Greens (Jörg Carstensen | dpa)

While the Greens focus on keeping up with climate policies during a pandemic, they avoid answering the burning question: Will the Greens also put a man in the race or put forward a woman? Options include Robert Habeck, who was according to a poll in 2019 the most popular German politician, or Annalena Baerbock, who achieved the best result ever in a chairmanship election of the Green Party. The party will announce its candidate in the next few months.

One thing that I asked myself: How can it be that the parties are worse prepared for the question of the chancellor candidate than I was for my statistics exam? It was clear that Merkel would not be a German version of the Queen of Great Britain and outlive the members of the parliament. While there's currently a global pandemic, the question of who will lead Germany over the next four years should not have caused such chaos or uncertainty. The selection of candidates to date also shows that the problem of representation has still not been resolved - there are two million more female than male voters in Germany and more than 25 percent with immigrant backgrounds - and the outdated hierarchical structures in the parties ensure that diversity is missing out.

Part I: The End of an Era: Angela Merkel - Legacy and Successor Part I here

The End of an Era: Angela Merkel - German Foreign Policy Part II here