A party dreams of new constellations.

METERIn fact, eight questions are cleared in the CDU among the big four. The state associations of North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Hesse are coordinating with each other in the background and looking for a solution. However, in the race for party leadership in the future, this tried and tested procedure suddenly no longer works.

By far the largest state association in North Rhine-Westphalia is left out of the process because the candidates for the CDU federal presidency (Friedrich Merz, Norbert Röttgen and the Armin Laschet / Jens Spahn duo) all come from there. Currently, there is no power center in the CDU that can control the process. There is talk of a “dilemma” or even a “shit situation.” That leaves Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Hesse, but how do they behave?

Voting test in Hessen

Hessen is the testing laboratory for the CDU federal party conference in Stuttgart in December. In Willingen, deep in the country’s sparsely populated northwest, the local CDU will soon hold a state party conference, it will be the first physical meeting of a state CDU since the start of the pandemic; a decision must be made to amend the bylaws, for example, if the pandemic continues, emergency party conferences can be held at the state and district level, for example, to elect delegates. One can only predict with reservations which candidate for the federal presidency of the CDU in Hesse can rally the most delegates behind him. Several district associations recently voted on the candidate’s question, always in favor of Merz. In the Odenwald district association, about 90 percent recently voted for him. Hesse’s CDU is far more conservative than its own constituency, and criticism of the Chancellor has never stopped at the grassroots level, says a man from the CDU.

However, the party leadership, first and foremost Prime Minister Volker Bouffier, has been loyal to Angela Merkel for years. Consequently, Bouffier was also in favor of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in December 2018 and is now the Laschet candidate. Even if you avoid public positioning. The fact that the prime minister had made positive comments about Laschet in the regional executive committee in the spring is seen as a “test” within the party.

When it was voted on almost two years ago, the Merz warehouse was roughly the same size as the Kramp-Karrenbauer in Hesse. Some of AKK’s supporters will now change, says a business wing official. From the party leadership, however, it is said that time has passed on Merz. “The young generation doesn’t even know him anymore.” But nobody wants to say that in public. Only between the lines are criticisms of Merz strong. For example, when General Secretary Manfred Pentz says about the election of the federal president: It is important that the new president join the party after the election. Whoever divides the party is unsuccessful. Two years ago, Merz wasn’t always supportive.