After all, not one-digit. They are happy about that that evening CDU-Central. It is such a catastrophic result for the Christian Democrats at the Hamburg electionsthat even Secretary General Paul Ziemiak, whose job it is to make the worst of the numbers a little nicer, says that there is “nothing nice to talk about”. A “bitter” day for his party. But Ziemiak is also in a great hurry, after just a minute and a half his statement is finished, questions are not allowed.
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The CDU is also a pretty speechless party that evening.
The eleven percent in the city, in which Ole von Beust won almost 43 percent in 2008, mean the second worst Union result in state elections, only 1951 in Bremen was even worse with nine percent. But after the catastrophic past weeks it could have been even worse.
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Mainly because of Thuringia. “What happened in Thuringia and all discussions related to Thuringia were anything but tailwind for the CDU campaigners in Hamburg.” This is how General Secretary Ziemiak puts it in his short assessment.
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In Thuringia, the CDU parliamentary group there has in the past few weeks destroyed political capital without end, which is now flying around the nation’s ears. However, it is also true that the CDU headquarters, and in particular the still chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, have just as little covered themselves with fame in the cause. Kramp-Karrenbauer has weakened this so much that two weeks ago she surprisingly announced that she would not be the next candidate for chancellor in the Union, and by the end of the year she would leave as CDU leader.
Thuringia and the chairperson question torment the CDU much more than the Hamburg result
How is the Thuringian problem resolved and who will lead the party in the future? These are the questions that torment the party on Sunday evening much more than the catastrophic result in Hamburg.
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But one thing at a time: In Thuringia, as a reminder, the CDU parliamentary group there, together with the AfD and the FDP, elected the liberal Thomas Kemmerich as Prime Minister – against the express advice of the Federal Party. A part of the Erfurt CDU faction still sees no wrongdoing in this. The proposal by ex-Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow from the Left Party to temporarily elect former CDU government leader Christine Lieberknecht to then quickly bring about new elections also failed due to the Christian Democratic MPs. The Federal Party would have accepted this under certain conditions – in contrast to the current plan of the CDU parliamentary group to re-elect Linken-Mann Ramelow with the missing votes for a majority.
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“The fact that the CDU prevents government formation for four months is the worst we can offer citizens,” says a leading Christian Democrat. That is the situation.
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But this situation is by no means clear. Secretary General Ziemiak and other top Christian Democrats had reminded on Saturday of the CDU federal party decision that political cooperation with the Left Party and the AfD is not allowed, and made it clear that the new plan of the Thuringian party friends was not acceptable.
Among them was Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, one of the possible candidates for the Kramp-Karrenbauer successor, which in the end will probably also mean the candidate for Union chancellor. So far, only CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen has officially raised his arm. Spahn and the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet are traded as applicants and have even had talks with the party leader in the past week, just like the third party member, ex-union faction leader Friedrich Merz. But even if Merz expressed his interest at least indirectly – officially, none of the trio has yet declared his candidacy for the CDU chairmanship.
What could a team solution look like?
Merz absolutely wants to compete, Laschet actually only if he has no opponent (which is already obsolete with Röttgen’s application), Spahn would probably be willing to refrain from running if there is a so-called team solution. How that should look like and who would end up being party chairman is the tricky question, which apparently can never or not yet be clarified. An open race of several candidates, many top Christian Democrats believe, would in any case harm the party.
And so the party slips into the week after the Hamburg bankruptcy with a chair robbed of the remaining authority and an unclear follow-up tableau, in which the question arises: What will happen to Thuringia?
In the end, it is probably a question of principle that could split the party: Should we work with the left in the future, but keep our distance from the AfD, solely because of state responsibility? Opinions differ widely.
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On Monday morning, when the CDU Presidium meets first and then the Federal Executive Committee, Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to present the timetable for their succession plan. But since the agreement between Messrs. Merz, Laschet and Spahn does not seem to be complete, it should only discuss the matter with the special party congress: in the early summer, whether with one or more candidates, there will be a presidential election in any case.
Nobody in the Thuringian CDU has procuration
And Thuringia will also be a topic on the committees on Monday, especially since Mike Mohring, President of the Presidium, is expected to be the head of the political group and state in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus. However, some of the CDU leaders would rather have someone with a power of attorney to discuss the progress in Thuringia: Mohring will leave both offices and has done little to solve the problem from the perspective of the federal CDU in recent months.
Only: There is no one in the state parliamentary group and also in the Thuringian CDU who has even the slightest authorization.
However, some would argue that it is currently not much better in the federal party.
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