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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 29 OcTOber 2019
Merkel party leader under pressure after German election

By GEIR MOULSON Kramp-Karrenbauer said It raised another tricky
Associated Press the situation demands that question for Kramp-Karren-
BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor everyone in the party show bauer: how far to stick to
Angela Merkel's successor "responsibility." the CDU's line that it rules
as head of Germany's main The CDU is currently ex- out "coalitions and similar
center-right party defend- pected to decide next forms of cooperation" with
ed her leadership on Mon- year on who will run for the Left Party, as well as Al-
day after a state election Germany's top job at the ternative for Germany. Ra-
in which the hard left and next election. melow's left-wing coalition
far-right triumphed, raising "I have done justice so far lost its majority Sunday, but
awkward questions for the to my responsibility in this the election produced no
traditional big parties of the debate, and everyone else majority for any other cur-
center. must decide whether they rently plausible governing
Merkel's Christian Demo- also want to do justice to alliance.
cratic Union and the cen- this responsibility," Kramp- Several CDU figures spoke
ter-left Social Democrats Karrenbauer said. Anyone out vehemently Monday
— postwar Germany's polit- who thinks the party needs against a coalition with the
ical heavyweights and cur- to do things differently can Left Party, or even loose co-
rently partners in the frac- push for that at a regular operation.
tious national government congress next month, she German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a Christian Demo- Kramp-Karrenbauer said
— between them took only said. cratic Union party leaders meeting in Berlin, Monday, Oct. 28, the party is sticking to its line.
30% of the vote in Sunday's The Social Democrats may 2019. CDU regional leader Mike
election in the eastern state yet shake up the timetable. Associated Press Mohring intends to talk to
of Thuringia. The party, whose support Ramelow, but was vague
Merkel's party, which led dropped below 10% in Sun- state votes, Sunday's elec- support for traditional main- about what exactly those
Thuringia for 24 years until day's vote in Thuringia, is in tion underlined a picture of stream parties eroding. talks would address.q
2014, could only finish third the middle of a lengthy pro-
behind the ex-communist cess to choose new leader-
Left Party and the far-right ship after its previous chair-
Alternative for Germany woman quit in June. It is
— whose regional leader, unclear whether new lead-
Bjoern Hoecke, has come ers will decide to stay in the
under scrutiny from Germa- government after they are
ny's domestic intelligence installed in December.
agency for his extremist Thuringia was, in some
views. Those two parties ways, a special case: Ger-
took more than half the many's only Left Party gov-
vote between them. ernor, the pragmatic Bodo
It was the CDU's fourth Ramelow, appeals to vot-
poor election performance ers well beyond the tradi-
under Annegret Kramp- tional base of the party,
Karrenbauer, Germany's which is in opposition na-
defense minister since July. tionally.
She has struggled to es- Sunday's election followed
tablish her authority after the pattern of two votes
narrowly winning the party in other eastern states in
leadership in December September: the governor's
and hasn't established her- party won at the expense
self as the party's unques- of rivals in the center while
tioned choice to be the large numbers of votes
next chancellor. went to Alternative for Ger-
Kramp-Karrenbauer ac- many, which has benefited
knowledged that both from many eastern Ger-
governing parties "are mans' sense of still being
preoccupied with internal disadvantaged nearly 30
matters." She said the head years after reunification.
of her party's youth branch, Germany's main Jew-
Tilman Kuban, questioned ish leader, Josef Schuster,
her position at a leadership voiced his dismay that
meeting Monday. nearly a quarter of vot-
She noted that, in the past, ers backed Alternative
when the chancellor is from for Germany, which he
the CDU, they have tradi- termed "anti-democratic"
tionally also led the party, and which won votes with
because otherwise "unrest" "cheap racist propagan-
can arise. Merkel chose to da."
step down as party leader. "The excuse of a protest
She has said she won't seek vote no longer works," he
a fifth term as chancel- said.
lor but she does intend to Along with the outcome of
serve out her current term, May's European Parliament
which is due to end in 2021. election and the previous