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Merkel set to lead German CDU as rival quits

BERLIN: Germany's Christian Democrats rushed to endorse Angela Merkel on Sunday to become the first woman to lead the conservative party after her chief rival, ex-Defence Minister Volker Ruehe, quit the race he was losing.

Merkel, who led efforts to uncover the financial scandal that forced Helmut Kohl to resign as honorary party chairman, gained support from party leaders after Ruehe quit the race that had degenerated into an ugly battle of the sexes pitting elderly party barons against the 45-year-old woman.

Merkel, the CDU general secretary and deputy to outgoing chairman Wolfgang Schaeuble, has not formally declared whether she wants to lead the embattled opposition party.

But her election as chairman seemed certain after Ruehe bowed out amid criticism of his ill-concealed attacks on Merkel that backfired. Ruehe had said the next party leader should not be picked through "emotional" decisions based on "feelings".

"I am definitely not going to stand for election as party chairman," said Ruehe, 57, who is better known abroad then Merkel but was nevertheless running a distant second in surveys.

As a parting shot, Ruehe said he believed Saxony state premier Kurt Biedenkopf, 70, was the CDU's best candidate.

Merkel said she was not ready to announce her candidacy. The CDU's executive board will decide on March 20 on a candidate that a party congress in April will have to confirm.

CONSERVATIVES LINE UP BEHIND MERKEL

With Ruehe out of the race, conservatives quickly began lining up behind Merkel, who is expected to announce her candidacy before the CDU executive board meets on March 20.

"I hope the CDU is ready for a woman at the top," said Christa Thoben, a CDU executive board member.

"She has a good chance to win," said Joerg Schoenbohm, the CDU leader in the eastern state of Brandenburg. "I am sure she will be a very good chairman for the CDU."

Friedrich Merz, the CDU's new floor leader in parliament, dismissed suggestions that the conservative party was not ready to accept a woman as its leader.

"Of course the CDU is ready for a woman at the top," he said. "Merkel has proven her abilities as general secretary."

Even Edmund Stoiber, the arch-conservative leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, backed away from earlier comments that he opposed Merkel.

"We will try to work well together with a man or woman at the top," Stoiber said. "We need each other."

The CDU was thrown into turmoil late last year after Kohl, chancellor for 16 years, admitted he broke the law by accepting $1 million in illegal campaign contributions.

Kohl was forced to quit as honorary chairman, and Schaeuble resigned as chairman after failing to clear up the affair that knocked the CDU down nearly 20 points in voter surveys and has cost it more than $20 million in fines from parliament so far.

Kohl was quoted in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper as saying he was closing in on his goal of raising six million marks ($3 million) in donations to help the CDU cover the fines.

"I still working on it but hope to have it all wrapped up soon," Kohl said. "I will tell the public all about it then." The newspaper added Kohl was putting up money from his own savings as well to help the party out of its financial hole.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats have criticised Kohl's fund-raising activities. The SPD said it is ironic both that the former chancellor is raising money to pay for damage caused by earlier illegal fund-raising, and that Kohl believes that money can fix all the problems he caused.-Reuters