German Conservatives fired the starting shot in their race to succeed the recessive German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. The seat of this empty, empty seat is set to be chosen at a Berlin party on April 25, after Christian Democratic Party leader Ingret Krump-Carnbauer, the expected heir to Merkel, announced her intention to resign last month.
Regardless of any sudden nominations, delegates will choose between the chief minister of the central North Rhine state, Armin Lachit, the veteran right-wing member, Friedrich Meers, and foreign policy expert Norbert Rutin. The ambitious Minister of Health, Jens Span, 39, has announced that he will not stand for leadership of the party, but will support Lachit.
"The CDU is bigger than all of us, this election for the future of the country and the future of the party," said Span, who is likely to take over as the party's deputy leader if Lachit wins. He added that the time has come to put past differences behind him and build bridges between the liberal and conservative sides of this party.
Lachit said that Germany lives in a new climate of fear, citing terrorist attacks in Hanao last week, and Haley last October, and that the central task of leading the Christian Democratic Union will be to address such concerns, especially among the Jewish and immigrant communities in the country.
Myers, who was the party's parliamentary leader until Merkel expelled him in 2002, also announced his candidacy just one hour after Lachit's announcement, and in the same location.
Myers, 64, launched his campaign with a heavy blow to his opponent, saying that the alternative he presented to party members was "between continuity in the old approach or a new beginning."
The seat of this thin, empty seat has been decided at a private party in Berlin on April 25.