But the Bavarians have an election for the state assembly coming next fall, which ultimately matters more to them than national politics. For that campaign, CSU leaders are convinced the party has to reassert its die-hard conservative credentials — just as Merkel will be trying to establish and lead a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin, which will inevitably mean tacking to the center.
CSU officials worry such a course at the national level could harm their new champion, Markus Söder, who will take over from Seehofer as Bavarian state premier early next year and lead the campaign to defend the party’s absolute majority in the state assembly. [...]
At the party conference, Söder, who is currently Bavaria’s finance minister, gave a foretaste of his campaign, taking aim at left-leaning newspapers and “champagne drinkers,” and striking a tone that seemed designed to win back voters from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). “Our world is occidental-Christian, Jewish-humanistic,” he declared.
“Islam has not made an outstanding contribution to Bavaria in the last 200 years and now we have to be clear about the roots of our own land.”
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