Merkel to stand down as CDU leader, stay German Chancellor: reports

Michele Tantussi/Getty

• Angela Merkel told senior members of her Christian
  Democratic Union party that she will step down as party leader,
  multiple reports say.
• She will stay on as German Chancellor, the reports
  say.
• The CDU suffered numerous setbacks in regional
  elections.

Angela Merkel is stepping down as the leader of her political
party, but will stay on as Germany’s chancellor, multiple reports
say.

She said she would not run as the Christian Democratic Union’s
(CDU) chair again at a closed party leadership meeting on Monday,

Deutsche Welle and
Bloomberg reported on Monday.

A new chair will be elected at the CDU’s upcoming party
conference in December, Deutsche Welle said.

Merkel’s departure comes after a series of party losses in
regional elections, most recently in the central German region of
Hesse — a former CDU stronghold — on Sunday.

The CDU won about
28% of the vote there on Sunday, down from 38% five years
ago.

Its loss increases the instability of the CDU’s grand
coalition with the Social Democrat (CSU) party, with whom the CDU
rules in Berlin. The CSU also suffered a setback in Sunday’s
Hesse elections.

The country’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Sunday
secured about 12% of the vote and will enter the region’s
assembly for the first time.

The nationalist, anti-same-sex marriage, and anti-euro party
surged to third place in the country’s national election last
September.