German conservative Merz set to run for chancellor in 2025 vote

By Madeline Chambers and Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) -The leaders of Germany's conservatives have agreed to nominate Christian Democrat (CDU) chief Friedrich Merz to run as chancellor in next year's federal election, the head of Bavaria's conservatives, Markus Soeder, said on Tuesday.

"The question of the chancellor candidate is decided - Friedrich Merz is doing it," said Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Soeder at a joint news conference with Merz, adding he had his full backing.

By standing aside, Soeder cleared the way for Merz, 68, an economic liberal who has driven the party to the right since becoming party chief in 2022 after Angela Merkel's 16-year hold on the chancellery. In particular, he has called for a tougher line on migration. 

The conservative bloc is leading opinion polls, with many surveys putting it ahead of the combined support for the three parties in Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP). 

The nomination still requires the conservative parties' approval but the candidacy is all but sealed as another possible rival, North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wuest, said on Monday he would not join the race and backed Merz.

The relatively early decision, a year before the election, is aimed at avoiding a messy dispute and repeating mistakes from the 2021 campaign that cost the conservatives dear. The conservatives scored their worst ever result in that vote.

Merz may be popular in his party but is less so among the wider electorate.

An INSA poll at the weekend indicated only 25% of voters would pick Merz for chancellor in a direct vote, compared to 21% for Scholz. Some 48% would not choose either.

"We will go into the election year together with the firm intention of retaking responsibility for our country," said Merz.

"With policies that will push Germany forward, make the country function again and perhaps also make us proud of our country, of Germany, again," he said, naming migration and economic policies as two priorities.

An election in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Sunday will be an early test for Merz's CDU, which is in third place in most polls behind the SPD and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which leads.

A lawyer from western Germany, Merz was a senior legislator in the early 2000s before quitting after losing out in a power struggle with Merkel. He went to pursue a lucrative career with asset manager BlackRock before returning to the German parliament in 2021.    

(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in central AsiaWriting by Madeline Chambers, editing by Matthias Williams, Keith Weir, Alexandra Hudson)