Angela Merkel said on Thursday nobody in her conservative bloc ever doubted that they faced a tough battle to hold the chancellery after her 16 years in office, declining to speculate on the outcome of Germany's Sept. 26 national election.
"That after 16 years one does not automatically ... return to the chancellery, that was clear to everyone in the CDU and CSU," she told a news conference, adding she anticipated a closely fought election.
CDU grandees backed Laschet in April as the conservative chancellor candidate ahead of Markus Soeder, the more popular leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU. The two parties - 'the Union' - run jointly in federal elections. "Of course, we would be in a better position with Markus Soeder," CSU General Secretary Markus Blume told Der Spiegel news magazine. "The continuing high approval ratings for Markus Soeder show what potential we actually have as a Union."
Soeder himself made clear he stood behind Laschet, telling Handelsblatt business daily that a weekend CSU conference, which Laschet will attend, would demonstrate solidarity.
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