Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: German Election 2021

Federal elections were held in Germany on September 26. Chancellor Angela Merkel did not seek a fifth term. Her Union of Christian Democrats posted its worst result since 1953. The Social Democrats (SPD) became the largest party for the first time since 2005. The Atlantic Sentinel endorsed the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), who placed fourth.

  • Söder Can Give Germany’s Christian Democrats Fresh Start

    Markus Söder
    Bavarian minister president Markus Söder answers questions from reporters in Munich, Germany, March 9 (Bayerischen Staatsregierung)

    Bavaria’s Christian Democrats have called for a poll of elected party officials to select the conservatives’ joint chancellor candidate for the election in September.

    Leaders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which competes in fifteen of Germany’s sixteen states, have thrown their weight behind Armin Laschet, the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.

    But many conservatives across the country think they stand a better chance with Markus Söder of Bavaria, who leads the state’s Christian Social Union (CSU).

    They’re right. (more…)

  • German Christian Democrats to Elect Merkel’s Successor

    Li Keqiang Angela Merkel
    Chinese premier Li Keqiang walks with German chancellor Angela Merkel in the garden of Schloss Meseberg, May 26, 2013 (Bundesregierung/Guido Bergmann)

    1,001 party delegates will elect the next leader of Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a digital congress on Saturday.

    The winner will succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the defense minister, who succeeded Angela Merkel in 2018. Merkel stepped down as party leader, but not chancellor, that year. Kramp-Karrenbauer quit two years later. She never approached Merkel’s popularity in the polls, nor her authority in the party.

    Merkel’s approval rating is approaching 90 percent, but she is not seeking a fifth term. Whoever is elected CDU leader on Saturday will be the party’s presumptive chancellor candidate for the election in September (the Christian Democrats are polling at 35-37 percent), but that is not a given. (more…)

  • Söder 2021: Germany’s Christian Democrats Should Consider Bavarian

    Markus Söder
    Bavarian minister president Markus Söder in Munich, December 15 (Bayerischen Staatsregierung)

    Germany’s Christian Democrats are polling faraway in first place for next year’s election with close to 40 percent support, up from a low of 26-28 percent a year ago.

    Yet none of the three middle-aged men vying to succeed Angela Merkel are wildly popular.

    Germans would prefer the prime minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder. (more…)