German opposition Christian Democrats tap leader Friedrich Merz as their candidate for chancellor

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s opposition center-right Christian Democratic Union announced Tuesday that it has chosen its leader, Friedrich Merz, to be its candidate for chancellor in next year’s national election.

The decision sets the stage for a possible challenge of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the federal election scheduled for September 2025.

Germans are looking ahead to next year’s vote at a critical time, as the country’s struggles to integrate large numbers of refugees and migrants and as the major European economy weakens. Recent extremist attacks have fueled a backlash against migration that is leading to a surge in support for the far right.

The fate of Ukraine will also be influenced by Germany’s political direction. Berlin under Scholz has been one of the largest weapons donors to Kyiv, but many German voters are growing tired of the 2 1/2-year war against Russian invasion, and have turned their support to far-right and far-left parties that oppose arms deliveries to Ukraine. Merz wants to continue supporting Ukraine.

The choice was announced at a news conference in Berlin with Merz and Markus Soeder, the leader of the CDU’s smaller Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union, who had also been a contender for the role.

Soeder, who is the governor of Bavaria, announced the decision, saying that the chancellor question “is decided. Friedrich Merz is doing it.” He stressed that he fully supported Merz, and that they were united by a common goal to unseat the current government “and get Germany back on track.”

Merz thanked Soeder for his support and said his party, led for many years by former Chancellor Angela Merkel, has the “firm intention of taking over leadership responsibility in this country again.”

An unpopular three-party coalition led by Scholz has governed since 2021.

The coalition, which is made up of Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, suffered losses in elections to the European Parliament earlier this year and in recent German state elections in Thuringia and Saxony.

The 68-year-old Merz was considered the favorite after Soeder failed to get the backing for his candidacy, according to German media reports, and after another contender, North Rhine Westphalia’s state Premier Hendrik Wuest, announced he wouldn’t run.

Currently polls show the Christian Democrats as the strongest party in the country. But Merz himself is not personally very popular. Scholz said during a visit to Kazakhstan that he would welcome a Merz candidacy, the German news agency dpa reported.

Scholz has said he would like to run for chancellor again but his candidacy hasn’t been confirmed by his party.

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Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Fanny Brodersen And Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press