Race to lead Merkel’s party in German opposition takes shape

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — A former German environment minister and outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff have both announced that they will run for the leadership of Merkel’s center-right party as the race to head it in opposition starts to take shape. The Christian Democratic Union has decided to hold a ballot of its entire roughly 400,000-strong membership on who will take over after incumbent Armin Laschet led it to defeat and its worst-ever national election result in September. Nominations opened on Saturday but it took nearly a week for former Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen to become the first officially to declare his candidacy. Merkel’s chief of staff, Helge Braun, followed a few hours later.