After the Saxony-Anhalt election: CDU in crisis – Söder is being discussed as a possible candidate for chancellor

The thought games about changing the chancellor continue after the election in Saxony-Anhalt. The CSU boss knows that every crisis in the Union creates new power options.

Söder's comeback in the power game would come as a surprise. But he likes to revise his statements as much as possible depending on the situation. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa

After the Saxony-Anhalt election, the CDU is on the rocks. Party leader Friedrich Merz sees the Christian Democrats' foundations shaken. CDU veteran Thomas de Maizière even says it is the worst crisis since the “donation scandal” under Helmut Kohl.

This is not the CDU's first crisis, but every crisis creates new power options. 25 years ago, a crisis brought an East German Protestant woman to the top of the party. Angela Merkel had outmaneuvered the so-called “Andean Pact”, the powerful CDU men from the West who had supported each other through cliques in the Junge Union for many years.

Today there are power games again in the CDU. It's still just mind games and scenarios making the rounds in the Union. But it is striking that the key Prime Ministers are only dutifully supporting Friedrich Merz. The language seems to be: “He is elected for four years.”

This is a statement of fact, not a claim to power. There is a fear in the Union that the party will follow the SPD's political downward trend - with all the consequences, especially for the MPs, who are beginning to fear for their mandate.