Laschet signals he will quit as leader of Germany’s CDU

Armin Laschet has signalled he is prepared to step down as leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union after the party slumped to its worst election result.

In a statement on Thursday evening Laschet said he would propose a party conference next week to elect a new leader. “We need an overhaul of our personnel structures and . . . we need to do it quickly,” he said.

Laschet has come under mounting pressure to resign since the CDU’s disastrous showing in the September 26 election, which was narrowly won by Germany’s left-of-centre Social Democrats (SPD).

The SPD garnered 25.7 per cent of the vote, ahead of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, on 24.1 per cent.

Laschet’s departure appeared almost inevitable after the SPD, Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP) began exploratory talks on Thursday on forming the country’s first three-party coalition government since the 1950s.

If the discussions succeed, SPD finance minister Olaf Scholz will become Germany’s chancellor, succeeding Angela Merkel, who is quitting politics after 16 years leading Europe’s most powerful economy.

Laschet made clear that he has not given up hope of a CDU/CSU-led “Jamaica” coalition — so-called because the colours of the participating parties — black for the CDU/CSU, green for the Greens and yellow for the liberals — match those of the Jamaican national flag.

“Jamaica is a chance for a really fresh start in our country,” he said. “As far as we’re concerned, we are not slamming any door . . . [and] the CDU’s offer will stand until the very moment a government has been formed.”

But he said he would be prepared to step aside and let someone else lead the CDU/CSU into a coalition with the Greens and FDP. “The great Jamaica project will not fail due to individuals,” he said.

Despite the election result some in the CDU/CSU camp hoped they could still retain the chancellery by coaxing the Greens and liberals into a Jamaica alliance.

But after initial talks with the CDU/CSU the FDP and Greens decided to go with the SPD.

Over the past decades the CDU has been Germany’s most successful election-winning machine, governing for 52 of the past 72 years. But it has been badly weakened by factional strife and disagreements over its direction after Merkel.

Laschet, prime minister of the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia, was elected as CDU leader in January. But he failed to stamp his authority on the party and improve his weak personal approval ratings.

His authority was also sapped by a bitter public power struggle with Markus Söder, the Bavarian prime minister and leader of the CSU, over who should be the parties’ joint candidate for chancellor in September’s election.

During the election campaign Laschet’s poll ratings sank further after he was caught laughing on camera during a visit to areas affected by flooding.

Speaking on Thursday, Laschet said the CDU had to learn from its mistakes and said that since Merkel stood down from chairing the party in 2018 the Christian Democrats had “experienced a continuous debate about personnel”.

“This time we should go down a different path, a path of consensus,” he said, adding that it was a “process that I will oversee”.