In the struggle for the candidacy for chancellor, Markus Söder apparently assumed that the normal channels of the Union would not lead to his goal.

That is why he attacked openly - probably in the hope that his popularity would help him to win through public and media pressure.

What followed is really unprecedented in the history of the controversial CDU-CSU alliance. With one blow, a more informal than codified, but always considered valid set of rules was suddenly suspended. When Söder registered his claim, a majestic dictum that had been passed on from generation to generation in the CDU like a monstrance was instantly suspended: the apparently timeless formula of the CDU chairman's "right of pre-emptive" to the candidate for chancellor. Söder seemed to have handed them over to the party archives in one go.