Europe’s 1001 electors

On Saturday, 1,001 delegates of the Christian Democratic Union will elect their new leader. This will decide whether Germany's largest political party will continue on the course that Angela Merkel charted in her country and in the European Union in her 16 years as chancellor, or whether it will attempt a swing to the right and toward a more "Germany First" relationship with the rest of the EU. It is possible (but not certain) that the new leader will be a candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor when her term ends in September's national elections.

Given Germany's dominant role in the EU, the CDU's electors will most likely affect the course of Europe and, consequently, every member-state.

Three men are running for the party's leadership. The latest polls show a slim lead for Friedrich Merz, a former CDU senior member who left politics in 2009 and returned in 2018...