FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018 file photo Friedrich Merz, former CDU faction leader, left, Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn, center, and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, General Secretary of the German Christian Democratic Union, all members of the German Christian Democratic Party, hold numbers for the speech order to present their concepts as candidates for the CDU chairmanship in Seebach, central Germany. Three high-profile contenders are vying to lead Angela Merkel's party as the longtime German chancellor makes way after 18 years for a successor who could shape the European Union's most populous country for the next generation. The center-right Christian Democratic Union will elect on Friday a new chairman or chairwoman, who will be the favorite to run for chancellor in Germany's next election. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, file)
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