Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz aren't friends, and probably won't be anymore.

When you have reached such a state, the different analysis of the result of a state election no longer matters.

There was consensus that their performance on Sunday in Saxony-Anhalt was a great success for the CDU, given the large lead with which the Christian Democrats landed in first place.

More important was the question of what that has to do with the CDU chairman Armin Laschet's candidacy for chancellor.

Eckart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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    Friedrich Merz, who seems to have become one of the chairman's most loyal comrades in arms from Laschet's competitor in the struggle for party chairmanship, congratulated Haseloff on television after the polling stations closed on Sunday. Then he added that its victory would not have been possible without the federal trend, so the matter was "an impressive confirmation for our candidate for Chancellor" Laschet.

    CSU boss Söder, who would have liked to have become chancellor candidate in Laschet's place and of whom it is still not entirely clear whether he has got over the defeat in this fight, said in Munich on Monday morning.

    He arranged cause and effect differently than Merz.

    Söder thinks carefully about which message should stick with his appearances.

    On Monday it read: “The match winner was Reiner Haseloff.” For “very personal reasons” he was pleased “that a friend competed so successfully in this election”.

    Eight minutes in Munich

    Söder's press conference lasted just under eight minutes, and he let more than five minutes pass before he mentioned Laschet for the first time. In the morning he called him, reported the CSU chairman, and congratulated the CDU. Then Söder emphasized that the outcome of the federal election in September was completely open. So much at least: The result for the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt means tailwind for the entire Union "and thus also for Armin".

    From a formal point of view, Laschet himself did nothing else a few hours later. When asked in Berlin whether Söder's fixation on Haseloff had bothered him, he was astonished. He did not perceive that as a disturbance. Congratulations to Haseloff on such a day is right. “He won, nobody else.” The election winner stood a few meters away from him in the foyer of the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus and finally tied the threads together. First he defended his advocacy for Söder's candidacy for chancellor in April, when the “opinion-forming process” was underway. This is a "very legitimate process in a competitive society". Then the decision was made.

    Haseloff assured that he was equally friends with both chairmen of the Union parties and that he valued them equally. He emphasized that Laschet had played an important role in the election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt, but also mentioned Söder's involvement. Ultimately, he found the formula that if the federal government wanted to achieve results like the CSU achieved in Bavaria, that would only work if the CDU and CSU “act homogeneously”. All that was missing was a little joke. Laschet delivered it. The only thing he resented Haseloff was that the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt had achieved an even greater increase compared to the previous result than he did in North Rhine-Westphalia in the 2017 election.