Merkel party leadership expected to be challenged

Merkel

At least two candidates plan to challenge Angela Merkel for the leadership of her party at the Christian Democratic Union’s December conference in Hamburg.

Politico reports Andreas Ritzenhoff, a businessman from the region of Hesse, told the Funke media group in an interview published late Wednesday that he wanted to unseat the chancellor, who has led the party for 18 years, because it was time for renewal.

“It seems urgently necessary to me for the CDU to formulate new political goals that will lead to a noticeable change of direction,” said Ritzenhoff, who owns an aluminium manufacturing company and joined the CDU earlier this year.

In September, 26-year-old law student Jan-Philipp Knoop from Berlin announced he planned to run for the CDU leadership in a Facebook post.

While neither is considered to be serious contenders for the job, the two challengers are seen as a sign of growing discontent in some quarters of Merkel’s conservatives and a broader desire to begin discussing what comes next.

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