Watsch’n from Söder
CSU boss Markus Söder had previously done something that Laschet had previously avoided: He congratulated SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz on his election victory. It is a “question of style” to congratulate someone who has more votes. Scholz has “the best chance of becoming chancellor”. From a “clear second place” in the election “no government mandate can really be morally legitimized”. And: “You have to accept this situation, also accept it internally.”
A few sentences that mark the climax so far in the internal dispute between Laschet and Söder. The rival quasi disqualified him – the candidate for chancellor and head of the larger sister party – and told him what to do: to let someone else go first and accept defeat.
The voices of those union members who would have preferred Söder to be a candidate for chancellor have become louder again in the past few days. Like that of the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer. Or the head of the Junge Union, Tilmann Kuban (“We lost the election. Period.”). But also forefronts like the Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier. He fought for Laschet to be a candidate for chancellor. Now he says: “We are not entitled to government responsibility.”
But for Laschet himself, his political survival clearly depends on this government. This was also made clear by the Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU): “If the talks fail, we will talk precisely about these questions: About the party’s personnel line-up and the question of how things will go on now.” The tense mood within the party and the doubts about Laschet are “understandable”.
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