2024-09-14 01:23:20
Who will be the Union’s candidate for chancellor? While the CDU has not yet commented, CSU leader Markus Söder has confirmed his willingness.
Markus Söder is in principle available to run for chancellor in the federal election campaign. When asked on ZDF whether he was making a claim, the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU Chairman said: “I only explained that one of the two is a possibility. That could possibly be me, but also Friedrich Merz, who of course could do it just as well,” said Söder. He admitted that the CDU had the “decisive role” in the question, he told the broadcaster.
His goal is to replace the traffic light coalition, “regardless of vanity and egos.” But Söder does not want to commit himself entirely to Merz as the top candidate. “We will succeed, with Friedrich Merz and me, it will work out great, one way or another,” he clarified, pointing out that they are still in the decision-making phase. “The idea is not so absurd that we could consider that we have several good candidates,” said the CSU leader.
There are two or even three “very good candidates” and he is convinced that a good solution will be found in the end. Replacing the traffic light coalition is the common goal. “That is the top priority and I am ready to do it, whether as Prime Minister or candidate for Chancellor, one of the two. In the end we will do it together and well together,” he said in the “heute” journal.
On Monday, Söder had already declared at the Gillamoos brunch in the Bavarian town of Abensberg that he was ready to move to Berlin. “For me, being prime minister is the best job. But I would not shy away from taking responsibility for our country,” said Söder.
Shortly before the upcoming decision on the Union’s candidate for chancellor, a survey is heating up the race between the candidates. According to the ARD “Deutschlandtrend”, eligible voters still consider Söder to be the most suitable candidate. Among Union supporters, Söder is also ahead of CDU leader Merz and North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU).
However, among the 1,309 eligible voters surveyed, skepticism prevails regarding all three candidates. 41 percent believe that Söder is a good candidate for chancellor for the Union, three percentage points more than in August (No: 48 percent), as Infratest-dimap determined for ARD. 33 percent believe that Wüst is a good candidate (minus three points; No: 35, the rest unsure). For Merz, the figure is only 23 percent (minus four; No: 63).
Memories are awakened of the last federal election campaign, in which Söder lost out to Armin Laschet and constantly taunted the CDU man. That should not happen again. The CSU leader announced that a fight within the Union – as in his 2021 dispute with Armin Laschet – was out of the question this time in the duel with CDU leader Friedrich Merz. “Back then, it was simply the wrong candidate,” says Söder.
CDU leader Merz is still keeping a low profile. In a press conference on the election results in both countries, he referred to the agreement reached with CSU leader Markus Söder on the timing of the decision: “We always said ‘in late summer’. Late summer has just begun, but it is not over yet.”