Election in Germany
The 2018 Christian Democratic Union leadership election took place during the party's 31st Congress in Hamburg at the Messehallen convention center on 7–8 December following Angela Merkel's decision in October 2018 not to stand for party leader at the 2018 party conference following the party's bad performance in the 2018 Hessian state election and the party's consistently low numbers in national polls.
In the subsequent party executive meeting on 29 October 2018, both the CDU's General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn announced their candidacy in the election. This was followed by Merkel's former arch-rival Friedrich Merz, who announced his bid and his return to politics on 30 October 2018. Spahn was eliminated after the first round, and Kramp-Karrenbauer subsequently won close-run second round of voting by 18 votes.
Candidates.
Declared.
To be able to run as candidate for CDU leader, a person needs to be endorsed by a subdivision of the party (either the federal executive board or a state, district or local association) or the proposal by a delegate during the party convention.
Running.
The following people ran in the leadership election, having fulfilled the criteria to become a candidate in the convention.
Announced.
The following CDU politicians announced their intention to run for CDU leadership, but did not receive an endorsement by either a subdivision or a delegate.
Withdrew.
The following politicians intended to run for the office, but withdrew their candidacy.
Endorsements.
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;Friedrich Merz
 ;templatestyles src="Endorsements box/styles.css"/ ;Jens Spahn
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;