The board of the Christian Social Union (CSU) unanimously supported the candidacy of the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz for the position of chancellor of Germany in the 2025 elections, reported the agency DPA.
According to him, the board voted for the personnel decision, which the CDU and CSU leaders Mertz and Markus Söder agreed on last week. With such unity, as DPA notes, the CSU wants to strengthen Merz's position in order to increase the chances of the opposition CDU/CSU bloc to succeed in the federal elections. Mertz's candidacy was also approved by the leadership of the CDU itself.
For his part, the co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, congratulated Merz on his nomination and noted that he is “looking forward to the election campaign".
Currently the rating of the conservatives is 32-33%, they are more than 10% ahead of the next second “Alternative for Germany” (about 19%) and almost 20% - the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, about 14%). Based on the current political situation, it is very likely that Merz will become the next chancellor of the Federal Republic.
The conservatives decided not to repeat the situation that arose before the Bundestag elections in 2021. After that, they could not define themselves as a candidate for a long time; claims were made by both the then CDU leader Armin Laschet and Söder, the latter being supported even by many Christian Democrats. However, after a hard struggle, Laschet achieved his candidacy, but the conservative bloc lost the elections to the GSDP. Many observers were unanimous in the opinion that the fierce discussions in the CDU/CSU at the time damaged the conservatives.
Mertz in 2000-2002 headed the CDU parliamentary faction. Subsequently, due to disagreements with Angela Merkel, he temporarily left politics and unexpectedly returned to it at the end of 2018 - then he ran for the post of leader of the CDU, but lost to the then chairman of the conservatives, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Then he gave way to Lachette and it was only in December 2021 that the Christian Democrats supported Merz as party leader.
Bundestag elections will be held on September 28, 2025. Based on their results, a new government will be formed and a new chancellor will be elected.