She said Monday that she will remain in place as party leader until a new leader — and candidate for chancellor — will be picked at a party congress in December. Several potential candidates are already waiting in the wings, chief among them Friedrich Merz, who narrowly lost to Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer at the 2018 party conference but is popular with the Christian Democrats’ conservative wing. Mr. Merz said earlier this month that he would step down from his job in finance to “serve the country” even more fully. Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer has said that anyone who toys with the idea of working with the AfD “should close their eyes and imagine Walter Lübcke. ”But in the more conservative wing of the Christian Democrats, her resignation was welcomed.

Source: New York Times February 10, 2020 09:35 UTC