Tuesday 11 February 2020

thronfolgerin und kingmaker

Fallout from state elections in Thรผringen over the weekend which saw the unseating of the left-leaning incumbent Budo Ramelow and replaced him a business-friendly (FDP, Free Democrats’ Party) minister president, who carried the election through a coalition vote that saw the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), centre-right, voting with the extreme-right Alternativ fรผr Deutschland (AfD) party with the newly elected FDP official—something akin to a state governor in America, nearly immediately resigning and calling for a new election—has prompted Angela Merkel’s designated successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, nom de guerre AKK (see also), to announce that she would not stand for chancellorship in 2021 and would step down as chair of the CDU. Finding what AfD stands for to be antithetical to everything that the CDU has worked towards, Kramp-Karrenbauer had the presence of mind to doubt whether she could fulfill both roles and acknowledged that separating party leadership from the chancellery would severely weaken the CDU’s position. Kramp-Karrenbauer, who was also tasked as Defence Minister once Ursula von der Leyen departed to assume presidency of the European Commission, will continue in that role and focus her efforts on reforming and rehabilitating the German military.