Last year, the Union’s K question seemed to have been resolved. But Markus Söder is bringing himself back into the game. A dispute within the Union is looming.
Munich – Markus Söder is once again opening the can of worms about the K question. He is ready to replace the traffic light coalition. And he does so as “prime minister or candidate for chancellor”, as he said on Thursday evening in the ZDF-“heute journal” commented. So it seems that the question of the chancellor in the Union has not yet been resolved, much to Friedrich Merz’s chagrin.
With regard to CDU leader Merz, Söder said that he could do the same. He himself “just explained that one of the two is a possibility, that could possibly be me,” said Söder. However, he and Merz will still make a suggestion for the candidate for chancellor.
The two chairmen of the CDU and CSU had agreed to answer the so-called K question together after the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg and to make a proposal. In Brandenburg, elections will be held on September 22nd.
In 2023, Söder ruled out the K question – now there are “several good candidates”
Only last year did Söder express himself much more cautiously on the K question. “For me, the matter is settled. I made an offer once, but then the majorities changed and I have to respect that…”, said the Bavarian Prime Minister in a TV talk show with Markus Lanz. When asked by Lanz whether Söder would accept an offer to run for chancellor from the CDU, Söder simply said: “I am not available in that case.”
Referring to a recent poll on the candidacy for chancellor, which puts him ahead of Merz, Söder said that it shows that “the idea is not so bad and so absurd that one could consider that we have several good candidates.” He referred to the ARD-“Deutschlandtrend”, according to which 41 percent of respondents believe Söder to be a good candidate for chancellor for the Union. Merz received only 23 percent approval in this survey.
The polls regarding the K question prove Markus Söder right
In a survey conducted by the polling institute Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on behalf of the ZDF “Politbarometer”, Söder and Merz are closer together. 29 percent of respondents believe that the Union has the greatest chance of doing well in the next federal election with Söder as chancellor candidate, while 23 percent believe that Merz is the best candidate. So at least the polls agree with Söder.
Söder said in ZDFIn the end, it all comes down to “that we as a Union – regardless of vanity and egos – offer the best solution”. The only goal, to replace the traffic light coalition, “we will succeed. With Friedrich Merz and me, it will work out great – one way or another”.
Dispute over the chancellor question like in 2021? Merz wanted to put the discussion behind him
Söder also expressed expectations about the Union’s performance in the federal election. “30 percent for the Union would be too little to form a stable, successful government,” he told the Mirror“Friedrich Merz himself said that the Union’s potential was 35 percent plus X. I share this view.” The Union is currently between 31 and 33 percent in the polls.
Merz actually wanted to have the decision on the chancellor question already behind him. He insisted on wrapping up the discussion after the European elections. Söder, on the other hand, pleaded for it to be after the state elections in the east. And the discussion about the chancellor question in the Union is nothing new. Armin Laschet and Söder were already arguing about the candidacy in the 2021 federal election. At that time, Söder had to admit defeat. (sischr/dpa)
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