The CDU and CSU achieved their historically worst result in the election.
(Photo: Reuters)
Armin Laschet wants to flee to the Chancellery to prevent his crash. The members of the Presidium, who were in shock on the stage with their Chancellor candidate on election Sunday, all woke up that morning hungover and ask themselves: Can the Union simply ignore its historically worst result and talk about a Jamaica coalition? Isn’t it important to clean the table and catch up on what has been neglected in all the years of government under Angela Merkel? The power struggle in the party is in full swing.
The fickle Markus Söder shows how fragile the situation is. After the CSU boss had planned to push Laschet aside if the election result was poor, he made a different decision on the afternoon of the election. At the time, the unionists still hoped to easily get ahead of the SPD.
The world was different on Monday morning. In his board of directors, Söder announced that he “did not want to go back to the agenda”. He knows: With 45 MPs, the CSU is the largest regional association in the parliamentary group. Laschets NRW-CDU only has 41 seats.
In the Union, the power struggle crystallizes in the question of whether the new parliamentary group will elect a chairman on Tuesday or whether the previous parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus will temporarily continue to hold office for the first few weeks. For fear of the next defeat, Laschet refrains from running himself and equipping himself with the necessary authority.
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The decision creates a dangerous power vacuum: around Jens Spahn, Norbert Röttgen, but also Friedrich Merz and Brinkhaus, groups are now forming that collect majorities and look for their chance. The Chancellor’s party is barely disciplined by the prospect of Jamaica.
Read more about the federal election:
Laschet absolutely has to signal with new and young staff that he has understood. He will have to present a fresh group leader and at the latest at the next party congress a new general secretary. And he has to do what he is known for: meet everyone, give everyone something – the East German state associations, the CSU, the economic wing, FDP and the Greens anyway.
There is not much leeway in a Jamaica coalition, in which even the CSU can only hope for two ministerial offices. What Söder and all those who will soon have to pass elections in their countries fear could happen: a weak, content-emptied Union in an alliance with two strong, small partners. Laschet has to say what he and his union stand for.
More: Laschet vies for Jamaica – What the Union FDP and Greens has to offer.