Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, announced today that she will not run for chancellor. She will also step down from her position heading the party, German media report.

Berlin stands in solidarity with Athens and Nicosia, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was reported as saying on Thursday during a visit to Cyprus, where she also called on Ankara to respect international law.

Conservative New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis (second from right) is seen at the Munich Security Conference, which started Friday and is to run through Sunday, with International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde (left) and the leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a close ally of Angela Merkel, won a tight race to succeed her as party leader Friday, seeing off a longtime rival of the German chancellor, reports AFP. 

The contest, which required a runoff vote to secure a 52-percent majority for AKK as she is known, is expected to increase the likelihood that Merkel will be able to see out her fourth term until 2021.

Germany's largest and dominant political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is holding a crucial vote to elect a new leader this coming weekend after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would not run for the post and effectively started to wind down her political career, writes CNBC.

The woman campaigning to succeed Angela Merkel as head of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), said she may consider quotas to get more women in parliament, as she positioned herself for a party election in December.

German Chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel (C), the Secretary General of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (L) and German Agriculture minister and Deputy Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Julia Kloeckner look on prior to a party leadership meeting at the CDU headquarters in Berlin, on July 2, 2018.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday welcomed a surprise state poll triumph by her party as "encouraging" for a September general election, as hype around her main rival fizzled in its first test.

With just six months to go until voters decide whether Merkel will have a fourth term, the election in the tiny southwestern state of Saarland Sunday took on outsized importance.