(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, FEBRUARY 10 - The woman widely seen as
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chosen successor will not lead
her crisis-racked CDU party into upcoming elections, a party
source told AFP Monday. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as
AKK, took over from Merkel as CDU chairwoman and presumed
shoo-in for chancellor in 2018 but "has now said she will not be
a candidate for the chancellery", the source said. She made the
surprise announcement after telling a crunch CDU meeting that
the centre-right party had "an unresolved relationship" with the
far-right AfD party and the far left. It comes after an election
debacle in the state of Thuringia in which regional CDU
lawmakers went rogue and voted in the same camp as MPs from the
AfD to oust a far-left state premier.
AKK "will by the summer organise the process to find the
(chancellor) candidate, further prepare the party for the future
and then give up the leadership", the source said. The source
added that Merkel wanted her to remain as defence minister, the
post she has held since July.(ANSA-AFP).
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