Merz won a new term in the Christian Democratic party’s leadership elections

German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz has been decisively re-elected as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the party’s state conference in Stuttgart on Friday, solidifying his mandate to lead Germany’s largest opposition party.

However, the celebratory mood for Merz was shadowed by a notable absence at the moment of his victory, as former Chancellor Angela Merkel, a CDU icon who attended the event, departed before the results were announced, prompting a flurry of speculation.

Merkel, who led the party for nearly two decades and served as chancellor from 2005 to 2021, was seen sharing a friendly farewell with Merz and his wife, Charlotte.

Merkel left the conference hall well before the official confirmation of Merz’s win, which came after a significant delay.

According to the German news agency dpa, the former chancellor’s early departure was not politically motivated but a matter of railway logistics: she needed to catch the last direct train from Stuttgart back to Berlin.

The schedule for the party conference had fallen behind significantly, as Merz’s own speech was delayed and ran for over 70 minutes.

The situation was then compounded when technical issues with the electronic voting system forced a switch to paper ballots.

The final result was announced more than three hours later than planned, by which time Merkel was already on her way to the station.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Merkel has missed the announcement of a crucial result concerning Merz.

A similar incident occurred on the day Merz was elected chancellor by the Bundestag.

Merkel was present on the parliamentary balcony to witness the first round of voting, which Merz lost, leading to a suspension of the session.

She wasn’t present for the second round, in which he secured the chancellorship.