Bundestag election: According to the survey, the Union would have the best chances with Markus Söder as candidate for chancellor

Enlarge image

Markus Söder: Candidacy for chancellor “extremely unlikely,” but the most popular possible candidate

Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa

Who will lead the Union as candidate for chancellor in the next federal election campaign? That is still open, but there are several names that suggest themselves: CDU leader Friedrich Merz, CSU leader Markus Söder, or Hendrik Wüst, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.

According to a survey, Söder would have the best chance of a good result as a candidate for chancellor. For 27 percent of those surveyed, the CDU/CSU with the Bavarian Prime Minister has the greatest chance of success, as shown by the ZDF political barometer. For 25 percent, this would be possible with Wüst.

The approval ratings for Merz are lower: 15 percent of those surveyed said that the Union could do well with him in the next federal election. Merz does slightly better among CDU/CSU party supporters at 20 percent. They also believe Söder has better chances with 34 percent, followed by Wüst with 29 percent.

The Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther is in the single-digit range among those surveyed: 9 percent of those surveyed and 6 percent of Union supporters see him as a possible candidate for success. For the survey, the elections research group interviewed 1,296 people between March 19 and 21. It is representative of the electorate.

Since his third election as Prime Minister, Söder has repeatedly emphasized that he will stay in Bavaria. In 2021 he was close to becoming the Union's candidate for chancellor. Ultimately, he lost in the power struggle with the then CDU leader Armin Laschet.

The open dispute over the candidacy for chancellor is seen as one reason for the Union's poor election result in the last federal election. The CDU and CSU then agreed to develop a procedure in the future to prevent a similar situation from occurring again. The decision on the Union's candidacy for chancellor will not be made until after the elections in East Germany in September.

At the end of 2023, Wüst spoke out in favor of an open debate about the candidacy for chancellor. In March, Söder said that a candidacy for chancellor was “extremely unlikely” for him. Merz is the favorite.

ulz/dpa