Laschet Must Let Soeder Run For German Chancellor
After regional losses for Merkel’s CDU, Armin Laschet should make way for Bavaria’s Markus Soeder as the conservative candidate.
The guy on the screen is better.
Photographer: Federico Gambarini/AFP via Getty Images
By tradition, Armin Laschet, as leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Germany’s largest center-right party, has dibs to run as the conservative candidate for chancellor in the upcoming federal election of Sep. 26. But he shouldn’t, because he’s not the best choice. Instead, Laschet needs to make way for his colleague Markus Soeder, the premier of Bavaria and wily leader of the CDU’s conservative sister party, the Christian Social Union.
If he needs an excuse, Laschet can cite the CDU’s terrible showing on March 14 in two regional elections. In both Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland Palatinate, the party remains the second strongest in the state assembly, but with the lowest share of the vote it’s ever received in those states. In the former, it remains to be seen whether the CDU can stay on as the junior partner in government. In the latter, it will stay in opposition.