Christian Democratic Union

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Top candidate for the Saxony-Anhalt state elections Ulrich Siegmund, center, attends a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Germany’s Merz shocked by far-right state election triumph but doubles down on unpopular reforms

By GEIR MOULSON and KIRSTEN GRIESHABER - Associated Press

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends the Cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Merz’s party stumbles into a year of German state elections with a narrow defeat

By Geir Moulson - Associated Press

Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union CDU, left, and the co-leaders of the Social Democratic Party SPD, Lars Klingbeil, center, and Saskia Esken arrive to meet for talks on forming a coalition government at the SPD headquarters in Berlin, Friday March 28, 2025. (Odd Andersen/Pool via AP)

German parties reach a deal to form a new government after weeks of talks

By Geir Moulson - Associated Press

Björn Höcke, party and parliamentary group leader of the AfD in Thuringia and top candidate, leaves the AfD election party in Erfurt, Germany, Monday Sept. 2, 2024. (Daniel Vogl/dpa via AP)

Far-right success in German votes piles new pressure on Scholz’s government

By Geir Moulson - Associated Press

FILE - The Chairman of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU), Friedrich Merz, addresses the media during a press conference at the party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, on May 9, 2022. Germany's opposition leader insisted on Monday, July 24, 2023 that there will be no “cooperation” at the local level between his party and the far-right Alternative for Germany after his suggestion that they might somehow work together drew unease within his own conservative bloc. Friedrich Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union has long said it won't work with Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which has drifted steadily further right. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Germany’s opposition leader faces criticism over his comments on cooperation with the far right

By Geir Moulson - Associated Press

The top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), Kai Wegner, celebrates after the state elections in Berlin, Germany, on Feb. 12, 2023. Members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party have approved a local coalition deal in Berlin with Germany's main center-right opposition party, paving the way for the capital's first conservative mayor in more than two decades.The Social Democrats' Berlin branch said Sunday April 23, 2023 that 54.3% of members who voted in a ballot backed the agreement. A convention of the center-right Christian Democratic Union is expected to approve it on Monday, the last step before the state legislature can elect Wegner as mayor later in the week. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP, File)

Scholz party paves way for new center-right mayor in Berlin

By Geir Moulson - Associated Press

The headquartes of Germany's Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, reflected in a puddle in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, March 14, 2021. Regional election in federal German states Baden Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate are held today. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)

Merkel’s party faces German election ‘wake-up call’

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

FILE - In this Tuesday Aug. 18, 2020 file photo, German chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and her successor as chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union, CDU, Armin Laschet, right, point during a meeting in Duesseldorf, Germany. Elections in two German states on Sunday pose a difficult test for Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, six months before a national vote that will determine who succeeds the country's longtime leader. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Merkel’s party suffers defeats in 2 German state elections

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2020 file photo, the three candidates for the chairmanship of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, Friedrich Merz, left, Norbert Roettgen, center, and Armin Laschet, right, take part in a discussion at the party's headquarters in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union, CDU, is choosing a new leader on the weekend Saturday Jan. 16 and Sunday Jan. 17, 2021, a decision that will help determine who succeeds Merkel at the helm of the European Union's biggest economy after a 16-year reign.Background slogan reads: 'CDU Chairmanship: The candidate round'. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Germany: Merkel’s party elects pragmatic Laschet as leader

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

The three candidates for the chairmanship of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, Norbert Roettgen, left, Armin Laschet, center, and Friedrich Merz, right, attends an event of the party's youth organisation, Junge Union (JU) in Berlin, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party CDU on again delayed a decision on who will become its new leader, putting off a convention planned for December in a move that irked one of the leading contenders. Whoever wins the Christian Democratic Union's leadership will be in pole position to become the center-right candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor in next year's German election, though that isn't guaranteed. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Contenders to lead Merkel’s party seek January decision

Associated Press

FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 7, 2018, file photo Friedrich Merz, candidate for the chairmanship of the Christian Democratic Union party, attends a party convention in Hamburg. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party CDU on again delayed a decision on who will become its new leader, putting off a convention planned for December in a move that irked one of the leading contenders.Whoever wins the Christian Democratic Union's leadership will be in pole position to become the center-right candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor in next year's German election, though that isn't guaranteed. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Merkel’s party puts off choice of new leader for 2nd time

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

Bodo Ramelow, former Minister President of Thuringia smiles in the Thuringian State Parliament in Erfurt, Germany, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. State lawmakers in the eastern Germany federal state cleared the way for getting a new government without the support of a far-right party. Lawmakers from several parties announced late Friday in Thuringia that they agreed to hold a new vote in parliament on the state governor next month and plan to have new state elections in April 2021. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

German state lawmakers at center of uproar agree on governor

Associated Press

FILE - In this May 9, 2012 file photo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, attends an election campaign rally together with Norbert Roettgen, left, top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union party CDU for the North-Rhine Westphalian federal state elections in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Roettgen, a former environment minister, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, became the first prominent figure officially to declare his candidacy for the leadership of German Chancellor Merkel's center-right party. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, file)

German ex-environment minister seeks to lead Merkel’s party

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a press conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, at the government's Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. Merkel is in South Africa to discuss trade, investment and energy issues with Berlin's largest trading partner in Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

German governor elected with far-right help resigns

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

Thuringian state governor Thomas Kemmerich of the Free Democrats party briefs the media during a news conference in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2019. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Merkel’s party grapples with German far-right fiasco fallout

Associated Press

Thomas Kemmerich of the Free Democrats, walks out of a voting booth in Erfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. Kemmerich, a pro-business politician, has been elected as the governor of the eastern German state of Thuringia in a surprise result after a far-right party threw its votes behind him. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

German state gets new governor, with far-right votes

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

Germany: Head of Merkel’s party defends ‘3rd sex’ comment

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press

German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks down to a mobile devices as she leads the last cabinet meeting of the German government for this year, at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018. The German government will decide at the meeting about an initiative to attract foreign skilled workers. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Former Merkel rival hints at interest in German govt job

Associated Press

German Chancellor and chairwoman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Angela Merkel, waves after her farewell speech during a party convention of the CDU in Hamburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 7, 2018. 1001 delegates are electing a successor of German Chancellor Angela Merkel who doesn't run for party chairmanship after more than 18 years at the helm of the party. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

The Latest: Vote narrows to replace Merkel as party chief

Associated Press

3 contrasting contenders in Germany vie to succeed Merkel

By GEIR MOULSON - Associated Press