Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Annegret Kramp-KarrenbauerReuters

The woman who was 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 on 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 center-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 organize the process to find the (chancellor) candidate, further prepare the party for the future and then give up the leadership”, the source said, according to AFP.

The source added that Merkel wanted her to remain as defense minister, the post she has held since July.

Merkel announced in October of 2018 that she would resign as head of CDU. AKK was elected as the party leader two months later.

Germany’s next national elections must take place by autumn next year, although the fractious coalition between the CDU, its Bavarian CSU allies and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) may not hold until then.

The CDU has been in turmoil ever since the Thuringia fiasco, which broke a political taboo in Germany where mainstream parties have always ruled out cooperating with the AfD.

Merkel called the vote in Thuringia “unforgivable” and said the outcome “must be reversed”.

AfD has a history of controversial statements, particularly surrounding the Holocaust. Party member Bjoern Hoecke caused a firestorm in February of 2017 when he suggested that Germany should end its decades-long tradition of acknowledging and atoning for its Nazi past.

Party co-leader Alexander Gauland two years ago described the Nazi period as a mere "speck of bird poo in over 1,000 years of successful German history".

He had previously asserted, however, that Jews should not fear the strong election showing by AfD and indicated that he was ready to meet with German Jewish leaders “at any time.”

Jewish community leaders in Germany had voiced concern over a surge in support for AfD in the regional election in Thuringia state.