After Merkel, German Christian Democrats seek new savior

Germany’s Christian Democrats are searching for their soul — and a new savior.

Having enjoyed 16 straight years in power under Chancellor Angela Merkel, defeat in September’s general election hit the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) hard. It has plunged the party into bitter internal debates over what went wrong and how the CDU, the preeminent force in German postwar politics, can find its way back to power.

The party took a small step on the path to renewal on Tuesday when CDU chiefs agreed on a plan to elect a new leader to replace Armin Laschet, the party’s hapless candidate to succeed Merkel in the election.

For the first time, they agreed to expand the process to include a vote of all party members, rather than relying solely on delegates at a party congress — adding a new element of unpredictability to the race. …

“There are many younger heads in the party who want a new direction,” Young Union chairman Tilman Kuban told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper, adding: “Listening to them now would do the party a lot of good.”

Some of those hankering for change thought they had found a role model in Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian conservative who remodeled his country’s People’s Party and became chancellor at the age of 31. But Kurz’s resignation over corruption allegations last month and his more general fall from grace have made that example a much harder sell.