CDU chairmanship: Merz, Röttgen or Braun: CDU facing a new power struggle

CDU chairmanship
Merz, Röttgen or Braun: CDU facing a new power struggle

There is much talk of renewal in the CDU – in terms of both personnel and content. But it all starts with a power struggle for leadership of the party – the third in just three years.

After the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen and the executive head of the chancellery, Helge Braun, ex-Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz should also make his application for the party leadership official this Monday evening. Merz, Röttgen and Braun stand for different political styles and orientations of the party. But all three face the same huge challenges.

After the historical disaster with only 24.1 percent in the federal elections, the Christian Democrats, who were spoiled by the government in the era of 16 years, are looking for a position for tough opposition years. The successor of the former NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet, who also failed as CDU chief after less than a year in the federal election, has to master difficult tasks at the same time: give a completely insecure CDU new self-confidence and prevent further division. The badly damaged relationship with the small Bavarian sister CSU was repaired. Promote a new profile in terms of content – and also be a powerful opposition leader.

None of the three prominent candidates will be able to do that in a solo, everyone should be aware of that. The CDU leadership team in the Presidium and Executive Board should be younger and more female in the future. But even if all three candidates in the party’s internal election campaign for the chairmanship are now allowed to try to assemble an independent team: The pool of younger women or experts in the parliamentary group, who could be the future face of the CDU, is similar for everyone.

Merz, Röttgen and Braun – an overview:

Friedrich Merz

The economic expert is not only in pole position for his supporters for the first round of the survey of around 400,000 CDU members about the future chairman from December 4th to 16th. Even critics suspect that the 66-year-old is likely to be ahead of the average more than 60-year-old members – also because of his level of awareness. This is the third time that the Sauerlander has attempted the office of chairman after Merkel announced her withdrawal from the party chairmanship in 2018.

Merz is likely to be chosen primarily by those who, after the Merkel years of the political center, long for a return to conservative core values ​​of the party. Among the women he usually had few followers in his earlier applications.

You can hear a lot of fans in the CDU, Merz has with the conservatives and in the east of the country and also with the Union’s offspring from the Junge Union and in the economic wing. His supporters hope that with a razor-sharp analysis and sometimes polarizing appearance, he will put the future traffic light coalition in trouble. Critics fear that it is precisely these qualities that could prevent the division within the CDU from narrowing. It is also known that Merz and CSU boss Markus Söder are not exactly best friends.

Norbert Röttgen

In his presentation, the 56-year-old once again made it clear where he sees the political future of the CDU: as the “people’s party of the social center”. A sign that he wants to make the party more feminine is likely to be his candidate for the post of general secretary: Franziska Hoppermann (39), a member of the Bundestag and head of the Hamburg Women’s Union, who is still largely unknown in Berlin. However, Röttgen is not particularly popular with supporters of Merkel or Laschet and in the powerful NRW regional association.

The announcement of wanting to work closely with Söder and Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus will also have been a well-considered move by Röttgen. Brinkhaus is likely to fear that in the event of a victory in the election of the chairman, Merz could resort to the parliamentary group’s chairmanship in order to secure the most powerful possible position in the opposition. In any case, Brinkhaus and his supporters would have nothing to fear from a party leader Röttgen. This also applies in the event that Braun finally leaves the field as the winner: Hesse has also made it clear that he wants to continue working as party leader with Brinkhaus at the top of the faction.

Helge Braun

The 49-year-old Hesse is considered a surprise candidate. He is struggling with the fact that, as head of the Chancellery, he is one of Angela Merkel’s most important confidants. But this is exactly what is behind his candidacy – Braun may hope to get a lot of votes from Merkel supporters.

If you ask around in the CDU, some believe in a respectable result – but not that Braun is in first or second place in the end. At the same time, however, it is acknowledged in the camps of all candidates: Nobody can currently say how the CDU base really works and how strong the individual camps are. Some suspect that the chances for Röttgen have increased due to Braun’s application. Because with three candidates it is not unlikely that there will be a round of stabbing after the first survey if none of them get an absolute majority.

When he introduced himself, he made it clear that Braun does not see himself in a losing position. In an email to the “dear friends” in the party, he presented a nine-point program for reforming the party. What is also required are a “position determination”, a “future agenda” and the clarification of particularly divergent positions. Will that convince the members in the end?

dpa