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Germany

Who could succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor?

The three major parties each have a candidate to head the next German government. Only parties who stand a chance of winning the most votes in an election put forward a candidate for the top job.

  • Olaf Scholz (Imago Images/R. Zensen)

    Olaf Scholz

    Plumbing new depths with each election, the SPD decided to run a realist rather than a radical as their top candidate in 2021. Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, and Merkel's deputy in the grand coalition, is seen as dry and technocratic. But the 62-year-old has seen a marked rise in opinion polls, as voters crave stability and a safe pair of hands.

  • Armin Laschet (picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer)

    Armin Laschet

    CDU chairman Armin Laschet, a long-time supporter of Angela Merkel, heads Germany's most populous state. Conservatives routinely underestimated the jovial 60-year-old, famous for his belief in integration and compromise. During the election campaign he has come across as vague and unfocussed and suffered in opinion polls following gaffes and slip-ups.

  • Annalena Baerbock (picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler)

    Annalena Baerbock

    At the age of 40, Annalena Baerbock has been a Green Party co-chair since 2018. A jurist with a degree in public international law from the London School of Economics, her supporters see her as a safe pair of hands with a good grasp of detail. Her opponents point to her lack of governing or ministerial experience and her occasional gaffes in interviews.


  • Olaf Scholz (Imago Images/R. Zensen)

    Olaf Scholz

    Plumbing new depths with each election, the SPD decided to run a realist rather than a radical as their top candidate in 2021. Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, and Merkel's deputy in the grand coalition, is seen as dry and technocratic. But the 62-year-old has seen a marked rise in opinion polls, as voters crave stability and a safe pair of hands.

  • Armin Laschet (picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer)

    Armin Laschet

    CDU chairman Armin Laschet, a long-time supporter of Angela Merkel, heads Germany's most populous state. Conservatives routinely underestimated the jovial 60-year-old, famous for his belief in integration and compromise. During the election campaign he has come across as vague and unfocussed and suffered in opinion polls following gaffes and slip-ups.

  • Annalena Baerbock (picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler)

    Annalena Baerbock

    At the age of 40, Annalena Baerbock has been a Green Party co-chair since 2018. A jurist with a degree in public international law from the London School of Economics, her supporters see her as a safe pair of hands with a good grasp of detail. Her opponents point to her lack of governing or ministerial experience and her occasional gaffes in interviews.


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Links: Olaf Scholz, Kanzlerkandidat der SPD, aufgenommen im Rahmen einer Wahlkampfveranstaltung der SPD in Schwedt, 28.08.2021. Copyright: Florian Gaertner/photothek.de Mitte: Annalena Baerbock, Kanzlerkandidatin und Bundesvorsitzende von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, spricht bei einem Polit-Talk des RedaktionsNetzwerks Deutschland (RND). +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++ Rechts: Aktuell, 27.08.2021, Duesseldorf, Armin Laschet Ministerpraesident von Nordrhein-Westfalen, CDU-Vorsitzender und Kanzlerkandidat im Portrait bei der Pressekonferenz zum Thema Wiederaufbau nach der Flutkatastrophe in Nordrhein-Westfalen in der Staatskanzlei in Duesseldorf

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19.09.2021 Robert Habeck (l), Bundesvorsitzender von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, und Annalena Baerbock, Kanzlerkandidatin und Bundesvorsitzende von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, haken einander unter beim Bundesparteitag der Grünen. Mit einem mehrstündigen Parteitag wollen die Grünen in die letzte Woche vor der Bundestagswahl starten. +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

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