What Happened In what could mark the end of an era for German politics, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Oct. 29 that she will not stand for re-election as the leader of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in December. Merkel said she wants to stay on as chancellor until her term ends in 2021, but her decision shows the extent to which her leadership has weakened because of poor election results and frictions with the CDU's junior partners in government, the center-right Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Some Context Merkel's decision came only hours after a regional election in the state of Hesse, where the CDU ended in the first position but lost more than 11 points compared with the previous election in 2013.