Germany's Armin Laschet ready to leave as head of CDU after electoral defeat
Germany's conservative leader Armin Laschet has said he is ready to stand down as head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) less than two weeks after an election that saw the party lose to the rival Social Democrats.
The 60-year-old said he would be asking for a special congress of the CDU to determine the "future and reorganisation" of the party leadership.
Laschet has taken personal responsibility for the conservatives' worst ever electoral result (24,1%) in modern German history.
The announcement, which many observers expected, came as the Social Democrats -- who finished top in the September 26 vote -- decided to continue preliminary talks next week with the Greens and the free-market FDP with a view to forming a three-party coalition.
https://www.euronews.com/2021/10/07/germany-s-armin-laschet-will-stand-down-as-head-of-cdu
That seems the strongest indication yet that the SDP/Green/FDP coalition is expected to form - if the other party has decided to change its leader, there's no credibility in a different coalition led by it.