Questions about the new CDU leader, as Angela Merkel’s party collapses to defeat | Germany

After the historic defeats in the German state elections on Sunday – just six months before a national vote – Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats are asking questions about their new chairman and the effects of a corruption scandal surrounding the manufacture of face masks.

Merkel’s successor as Chancellor is to be elected by the voters in September and the CDU’s worst results so far in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, which were once their strongholds, have increased the pressure on the party, as is the public’s trust in good time can win back.

In the affluent south of Baden-Württemberg, the CDU’s result slumped to just 24 percent and thus lagged far behind its main rival, the environmentally conscious Greens, who rose to 33 percent. Before that, the CDU had ruled the country for almost 58 years from 1953.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, southwest Germany, the CDU vote fell by more than four points to 28%, while the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) secured victory with 36%.

The CDU has to deal with the fact that a corruption scandal involving alleged kickbacks in the procurement of face masks, which led to the resignation of three MPs within a week in the run-up to the vote, has severely damaged its image. On Monday, it hinted at plans to update an existing “code” requiring MPs to make their loyalty to companies and other stakeholders public.

The sluggish nationwide introduction of vaccines is said to have contributed to the distrust of voters, which is largely due to the decision of Merkel and her health minister Jens Spahn to let the European Commission control the orders. So far only about 3.3% of Germans have received the full vaccination and 7.4% the first vaccination. These numbers are far lower than the one for the USwhere 11% were fully vaccinated and 21% received their first injection, and the UK where only 2.4% were fully vaccinated but 36% had their first vaccination.

The fact that the CDU is returning such historically poor results, which two months after the election of a new party leader, Armin Laschet, plunged the party into the worst crisis in years, raises serious questions about whether he is the right candidate for it .

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Laschet admitted that the results were disappointing and urged members of his party to “pull together†before the September election, saying “we have to fightâ€.

The CDU’s handling of the coronavirus crisis was one of the “several reasons” for the break-in. “We need to improve our coronavirus management,” he said.

The lack of the so-called “Merkel bonusâ€, which the party has enjoyed for years due to the popularity of the Chancellor, who will no longer run for office in September, also had an impact on the result, commentators said on Monday.

Markus Söder, the chairman of the CDU sister party, the CDU, the chairman of Bavaria and the federal interior minister, called the results a “heavy strike in the heart of the union” and made the government’s strategy for the coronavirus, including the vaccination program and one, above all longer lockdown.

“The election results have shown skepticism about crisis management,” he said.

Greens co-chairs and potential Chancellor candidates Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck basked in their party’s results, saying voters had demonstrated their trust in the Greens as head of government, saying that the pandemic was boosting the upswing by highlighting Party contributed deficits in governance.

“Many gave everything during the pandemic,” said Baerbock at a press conference in Berlin. “They expected the government to do the same, but they are disappointed … the election results show that.”

The result of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg shows that they want a different policy. It was time to shake up the country, arguing that many opportunities for modernization had been ignored by Europe’s largest economy, noting the need to update the often slow and cumbersome day-to-day administrative processes.

“During the pandemic, we saw health officials faxing each other,” she said, adding that the ‘make do and repair’ approach needs to change.

The state elections on Sunday began with what was called “Super election year“Or” Super Election Year “, with further votes in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in June, Lower Saxony and Berlin in September and culminating in the federal election on September 26th and elections in the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia on the same day.

Both in Baden-Württemberg and in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Greens, the SPD and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) are potentially able to forge “traffic light alliances†– so-called because of the party colors – that leave the CDU cold. If management is successful at the state level, this increases the likelihood of the constellation at the federal level.