German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party will elect a new leader on Saturday, in a key vote kicking off the race for Germany's top job as a deadly pandemic roils Europe's biggest economy.
With just nine months to go before a general election, no candidate stands out in the battle for the chairman post of the party that has dominated German politics for 70 years.
Three men are vying for the job, but have struggled to create momentum with their campaigns overshadowed by the relentless pandemic.
Yet Saturday's vote could lead to a dramatic departure from the middle-ground consensus politics that Merkel has come to be known for internationally, with the veteran politician planning to leave the stage after September's general election.
In the running is Merkel ally Armin Laschet, premier of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia.
But he is lagging in surveys against the chancellor's arch-conservative rival Friedrich Merz, who has indicated he wants a clean break from the Merkel era.
The third candidate, foreign affairs expert Norbert Roettgen, is polling neck-and-neck with Laschet.
The stakes are high for the vote, described by some as the second most important for Germany in 2021 after the September 26 election.
That is because the winner would be in pole position to lead Merkel's conservatives to the polls and potentially claim her job as she retires after 16 years in power.
But the pandemic has also reshuffled the cards and opened up the possibility that someone else could end up snatching the conservatives' coveted "chancellor candidate" nomination to lead them into the elections.
With the clock ticking down to the vote, the conservative alliance's heavyweights including Merkel's chief of staff Helge Braun have come out to plump for Laschet, dubbed the "continuity candidate."
Markus Soeder, leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party the CSU, has also voiced backing for Laschet.
Although he was an early favorite, various gaffes in his handling of the pandemic have pushed him way down public approval ratings.
Merz, a veteran hardliner, has promised to shift the party to the right. But some fear that old divisions could surface under Merz.
His liberal policies may also fail to gain traction with the economy now ailing as successive shutdowns curtail businesses.
With just nine months to go before a general election, no candidate stands out in the battle for the chairman post of the party that has dominated German politics for 70 years.
Three men are vying for the job, but have struggled to create momentum with their campaigns overshadowed by the relentless pandemic.
Yet Saturday's vote could lead to a dramatic departure from the middle-ground consensus politics that Merkel has come to be known for internationally, with the veteran politician planning to leave the stage after September's general election.
In the running is Merkel ally Armin Laschet, premier of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia.
But he is lagging in surveys against the chancellor's arch-conservative rival Friedrich Merz, who has indicated he wants a clean break from the Merkel era.
The third candidate, foreign affairs expert Norbert Roettgen, is polling neck-and-neck with Laschet.
The stakes are high for the vote, described by some as the second most important for Germany in 2021 after the September 26 election.
That is because the winner would be in pole position to lead Merkel's conservatives to the polls and potentially claim her job as she retires after 16 years in power.
But the pandemic has also reshuffled the cards and opened up the possibility that someone else could end up snatching the conservatives' coveted "chancellor candidate" nomination to lead them into the elections.
With the clock ticking down to the vote, the conservative alliance's heavyweights including Merkel's chief of staff Helge Braun have come out to plump for Laschet, dubbed the "continuity candidate."
Markus Soeder, leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party the CSU, has also voiced backing for Laschet.
Although he was an early favorite, various gaffes in his handling of the pandemic have pushed him way down public approval ratings.
Merz, a veteran hardliner, has promised to shift the party to the right. But some fear that old divisions could surface under Merz.
His liberal policies may also fail to gain traction with the economy now ailing as successive shutdowns curtail businesses.
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