Chair of Germany’s CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK), has recently addressed the re-run of the Istanbul mayoral elections, scheduled for June 23, 2019. By elaborating on the current developments in Turkey, once again, a leading figure in German politics took a biased position with regard to elections in Turkey by openly supporting the opposition in a foreign country.

It should be noted here that the majority of the German parliament also openly supported the self-declared interim president, Guaidó, in Venezuela, while a report published by an official state-funded service pointed to the fact that the German parliament’s step might cause a situation that could be seen as interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

In her recent address during an election campaign in the Western German city of Duisburg, AKK described participation in the upcoming European election in Germany on 26 May as a sign of solidarity with the Turkish opposition. Besides this, AKK stated, “we have seen in Istanbul that a democratic decision has been overturned because the president in Turkey did not like the results.” AKK continued and blamed the Turkish government by stressing, “this shows that a safe and free choice is not self-evident everywhere in the world.” AKK once again referred to the European elections by stating her wish “that a strong turnout on May 26 would set a signal that makes it clear that election, that vote, is worth something, and we vote for everyone in the opposition in Turkey who do not have the freedom to do that. This too is a sign of solidarity.”

It has become habitual for German conservatives to address Turkish politics in a negative way.

Unfortunately, it has become habitual for German conservatives, who are trying to reach for far-right and populist votes, to address Turkish politics in a negative way. Besides the obvious leftist and far-right figures criticizing Turkey, it has become common for conservative members of German politics to criticize Turkey without accurate information, basing their arguments on populism. By this, it’s obvious that other similar election experiences in European states in the past are disregarded and likely deliberately not taken into account neither among conservative nor other left-liberal circles.

Without going into depth, just remember two re-run examples: First, in 2016, the constitutional court in Austria ordered a re-run of the controversial presidential election’s second round. This happened during an era when the rightwing candidate Hofer came close to being the next president of the country. When Hofer lost the race against the left-bloc’s candidate, van der Bellen, Hofer subsequently went to the constitutional court where he succeeded.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer signals to differentiate herself from her ally in terms of populist policies and statements regarding Turkish politics.

The reason why the court cancelled the election was: “irregularities in the way postal votes were counted were sufficiently serious to require an unprecedented re-run of a national contest.” Subsequent to this decision, there was no harsh criticism particularly among German politicians. In comparison, one should remember how German politicians and even all Germany-based media outlets criticized the decision to re-run elections in Istanbul and openly supported the Kemalist-nationalist CHP’s mayoral candidate.

AKK, who is known for her close alliance with Angela Merkel, will most likely differentiate herself from her ally in terms of populist policies, statements, and in particular, one-sided elaborations of Turkish politics.

The second example is the Brexit referendum result in 2016, which most Germans and even CDU members did not like. Despite its obvious democratic character, many German politicians either directly or indirectly called for a re-run of the referendum – despite their being no irregularities. Nevertheless, for instance, the Foreign Policy Spokesman of the CDU/CSU, Jürgen Hardt, openly stated, “Brexit will not take place. At the end of the day there will be a second referendum. Then, in fact, the supporters of the British in the EU will gain the upper hand.”

As one can notice, there is quite an ambivalent tendency according to which German policy makers are either able to support the idea of a re-run – even when there are no irregularities – (for instance the Brexit case), or keep silent in terms of decisions regarding irregularities due to postal votes. Of course, these awkward positions among German policy makers may have their own reasons, but why so much prejudice and bias when it comes to Turkish politics?

The German CDU understands the dynamics of Turkish politics very insufficiently.

All in all, it becomes increasingly obvious that the former secretary general of the CDU, AKK, who is known for her close alliance with Angela Merkel, will most likely differentiate herself from her ally in terms of populist policies, statements, and in particular, one-sided elaborations of Turkish politics. By this, she most likely will be inclined to compete with already far-right and leftist circles. Given the continuing use of prevailing anti-Turkish government discourse without any reflection regarding the opposition camp in Istanbul, the German CDU might continue to insufficiently understand the dynamics of Turkish politics. By this, one should stress that there has never come accurate criticism with regard to Turkey’s CHP and its gradually established one-man leadership around Kemal Kilicdaroglu – a leader that is yet to achieve any national success.

Even in a case where the CHP candidate becomes successful on June 23, the fact is that the German government will have to cooperate with the Ankara administration, led by President Erdogan, until 2023. Lastly, one should also not disregard the fact that the CHP and its allies are not the only representatives of Turkey’s opposition.

After 18 years of ruling Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU), Chancellor Merkel’s official role in the party came to an end on Friday. However, this does not mean that her ability to control the party in a continuous way will diminish. As was guessed in this column and as was estimated by recent polls, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected as the new chair of Germany’s still strongest conservative party. Thus, Friedrich Merz, the actual rival of Merkel, lost his struggle for party leadership once again – as he had competed back in 2002. Consequently, German dailies preferred the headline “don’t mess with Merkel” in order to stress the Chancellor’s strength – at least within the party – to mobilize her supporters.

However, it should definitely be kept in mind that Karrenbauer was narrowly elected as party chair by receiving 517 of the 999 votes (51.8 per cent) while Friedrich Merz received 482 votes. It was also not a surprise that the young conservative-populist Jens Spahn did not become the party’s new leader – at least for now. Karrenbauer will succeed Angela Merkel who had similarly been elected in 2000 as the party’s chair when she was similarly holding the party’s secretary-general office.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s challenging chief purpose is to unify Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) ahead of crucial regional and European elections in 2019.

In general, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s main purpose for the near future can be described as unifying the party ahead of crucial regional and European elections in 2019. While she will technically lead the party, it’s most likely that Chancellor Merkel will continue to govern the country by dominating its political agenda and direction. It could be suggested that Merkel may insist to control the party through her close ally, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

It would have been a problem if a rather conservative personality such as Merz would have become the party’s leader, as this would have caused a probable power struggle between both poles. However, due to the fact that Karrenbauer is a close ally of Merkel, and despite her statements that she will or might also challenge Merkel when needed, it seems rather unlikely that huge disputes will emerge. Thus, it’s quite sure that Merkel will most likely finish her last period as Chancellor until 2021 without facing any problems with the party chair. Rather, she will cooperate with the party’s new chairperson.

Here are seven challenges for Karrenbauer: 1) intra-party reconciliation between different camps, 2) clarifying relations with Merkel, 3) setting future goals and the agenda, 4) positioning the CDU vis-à-vis the AfD, 5) winning back votes lost to the Green Party, 6) starting a new dialogue with the CSU, 7) mobilizing the party for the upcoming elections.

Subsequent to the party convention, one notices that German media outlets have addressed a list of new challenges that Karrenbauer has to deal with in the upcoming months. According to such a piece, there are seven aspects that Karrenbauer will face. First of all, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has to start a so-called reconciliation process in order to bring all party camps together. That is to say, she has to find a balance between conservatives and the centrists. In a second point, Karrenbauer has to clarify her relations with Angela Merkel. Even though she underscores her own career path by pointing out her individual positions, the general societal perception positions her in Merkel’s shadow. This critical issue has to be clarified as it could otherwise lead to a de-facto “dual-leadership” crisis.

The third aspect is about Karrenbauer’s potential goals and projects for the future on which she has to focus on herself. It’s argued that only with such a focus will her popularity be maintained. Furthermore, the new chair has to think about the CDU’s position vis-à-vis the AfD, while having to challenge the far-rightists. Similarly, Karrenbauer must plan how she will bring back voters to the CDU, who recently preferred the Green Party. Unfortunately, these dynamics do not seem very comfortable.

As the sixth point, it is argued that the new chairperson has to find a new dialogue with the CDU’s Bavarian sister party and coalition party, the CSU. In the recent past a couple of disputes between the CDU and CSU leaders almost ruined the coalition government. Karrenbauer has to keep in mind these potential problems while working together with the conservative CSU, particularly in policy fields such as migration. Finally, the new elected chair will have to show that she is able to mobilize the party by aiming to win elections. Indeed, 2019 will definitely be an interesting year as local elections and EU elections are planned.

Thus, with a new chairperson, a new era has begun for the CDU. It’s too early yet to make any concrete predictions about the future of German politics in general. However, there is still an argument – even stressed by the former Chancellor and SPD leader Gerhard Schröder – which criticizes the election of Karrenbauer as chair. According to this view, it’s a mistake that the rather conservative politician has not been elected as chair only because with him Germany’s social-democrats and Christian Democrats would have had the chance to differentiate themselves from each other. And as a consequence, a conservative person such as Merz might have weakened marginal parties such as the AfD. But to be honest, despite the fact that the conservative Karrenbauer is not a one-to-one imitation of the rather liberal-oriented Merkel, it’s obvious that the German public would always vote for “original” far-rightists like the AfD instead of preferring a new-conservative such as Merz.