Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian........>

GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) began two

day conference in the eastern city of Leipzig today in what could prove a stormy

affair. 

- Party secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) facing a hostile party base,

not satisfied with her performance in the role of Merkel's heir apparent so far.

- Poor performance from CDU in state elections over 2019, combined with anger

over a pension deal with junior coalition partner Social Democrats, has raised

concerns among the conservative wing of the party about AKK's chances of

retaining the Chancellery come the 2021 election.

- AKK's main challenger in the 2018 CDU election, conservative Friedrich Merz,

is set to offer a rebuke to her conference speech in role as party delegate. 

- Grassroots seeking to change CDU rules to allow normal party members to pick

chancellor candidate rather than a small group of party delegates. 

- Likely too early to replace AKK or to pick a chancellor candidate, but if

party cannot use conference as chance to bridge divisions it could portend a

difficult 2020 involving greater internal rancour.