Laschet looks to drum up election support

Armin Laschet, the chancellor candidate for Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, is trying hard to inject momentum into his campaign three weeks before the general election as rival candidate Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party continues to widen his lead in the polls.

An Infratest dimap/ARD poll on Thursday showed that 43 percent of voters said they would choose Scholz as chancellor in a direct election, compared with 16 percent for Laschet. Annalena Baerbock of the Greens received 12 percent, while 29 percent said they do not know or chose not to answer the question.

On the streets of Frankfurt on Sunday, more posters for Scholz were seen than those for Laschet, whose fate on Sept 26 will decide whether the CDU will continue to lead the government when Merkel retires after 16 years in office.

Laschet, governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state, made a major move on Friday by introducing a team of four men and four women at a live televised event in Berlin. They included terrorism expert Peter Neumann and CDU Vice-President Silvia Breher.

Former CDU/Christian Social Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz was the most prominent member of the team. He lost to Laschet in the election for CDU chairman in January. Some analysts believe Merz's unpopular views among women and his rhetoric on climate change may not help Laschet. Merz has opposed the European Commission's carbon tax, something that the CDU has endorsed.

Neumann described Laschet as a "politician who really listens, who is really interested in issues", saying "I really hope he will be the next German chancellor".

The CDU/CSU said the team was not the cabinet.

Laschet emphasized conservative family values, education, digitization and the economy as among the most important issues.

"There are just 23 days until the election, and it is now time to focus on the issues," he said.

"We are facing fundamental decisions about the direction of German politics."

Both Laschet and Scholz will go to Paris this week to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, as they both emphasize the importance of Franco-German relations.

Laschet suffered a decline in popularity after he was caught on camera laughing during an event mourning flood disaster victims, and his home state becoming a COVID-19 hot spot in the country.

To make matters worse, there have been voices from the CDU/CSU alliance calling for Laschet to be replaced by Markus Soder, governor of Bavaria.

Soder has dismissed such talk. "The ballots have been printed and the election posters pasted, so it makes no sense talking about replacing the top candidate," he told German media on Thursday.

Wolfgang Schauble, parliamentary president and one of CDU's most respected officials, has also voiced support for Laschet.

"We must rally around our candidate for chancellor, support him and not weaken him with side blows," he said on Thursday.

Agencies contributed to this story.