Leading CDU politicians have spoken out in favor of party leader Friedrich Merz as the candidate for chancellor in the 2025 federal elections. “I think Friedrich Merz is the best candidate to bring this country forward again,” said deputy CDU leader Carsten Linnemann to “Spiegel”. The parliamentary group’s first parliamentary manager, Thorsten Frei, sees Merz as an “excellent candidate”.
Frei warned against repeating the mistakes of the 2021 federal election campaign when Armin Laschet (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) dueled for the chancellor candidacy. “The CDU lost trust in the last federal election mainly because Armin Laschet lacked the support of the party,” said Frei. “This time the parliamentary group and party will be united behind Merz.”
Merz himself has not yet commented specifically on a possible candidacy for chancellor. The CDU leader had only announced that he wanted to clarify the question by early autumn 2024 at the latest.
Most recently, Merz was ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (21 percent) for the first time in the so-called chancellor preference in the new RTL/ntv trend barometer with 23 percent. When asked who in a trio of Scholz, Merz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was the preferred head of government, Merz was ahead of Scholz. (Tsp, Reuters)
