BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right party plunged deeper into crisis Monday following a debacle in a regional election, as the long-time German leader’s successor unexpectedly announced that she wouldn’t stand for the chancellorship. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer informed leading members of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union that she will begin the process of organizing a leadership contest in the summer. The vote broke what is widely regarded as a taboo around German political parties co-operating with extremist parties. Yet Kramp-Karrenbauer, 57, who is also Germany’s defence minister, has struggled to boost the party’s declining election results amid a stiff challenge from the far-right. The fiasco in Thuringia state further highlighted tensions in the centre-right Christian Democrats after the party’s regional lawmakers ignored a recommendation from Berlin not to back a centrist candidate against the left-wing incumbent.

Source: thestar February 10, 2020 09:33 UTC