(Bloomberg) — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union will accelerate the process of appointing a new leader as the party struggles to emerge from political turmoil.A special party conference will be held to choose a successor to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on April 25, according to a CDU official. The party chairwoman who shocked Germany’s political establishment this month by abandoning ambitions of succeeding Merkel as chancellor set the plan in motion at a leadership meeting on Monday in Berlin. Kramp-Karrenbauer is due to hold a press conference later this afternoon.Kramp-Karrenbauer originally planned to have the party decide on a chief this summer and sign off on the pick at a regular party convention in December. Concerns about the risks of an extended power struggle prodded numerous party officials to push for a faster process. A disastrous election result in Hamburg on Sunday, when the CDU posted its worst performance in the city state since World War II, drove home the need for urgency.The emerging number of contenders and the tighter timetable will make a leadership contest inevitable, according to a senior party official. Last week, potential candidates including Health Minister Jens Spahn had raised the prospect of a “team solution” that would determine a leader internally and avoid a potentially bruising power struggle.The incoming CDU chief would have the inside track to run for chancellor at the next election, which is due in the fall of 2021 at the latest. If the winner ends up being from the more conservative wing of the party rather than a centrist in Merkel’s mold, the faster decision could intensify pressure on Merkel to step down earlier than the end of her fourth term.The split between party chief and Merkel’s role in the chancellery proved unworkable for Kramp-Karrenbauer. Her withdrawal on Feb. 10 stoked a crisis in Germany’s political establishment that began when CDU lawmakers in Thuringia cast their lot with the far-right Alternative for Germany to install a premier in the eastern state, breaking a taboo and defying marching orders to not cooperate with extreme right or left.‘Deep Insecurity’At stake in the CDU leadership battle is the direction of Europe’s largest economy as the European Union grapples with stagnating growth, fallout from U.K.’s exit and a withering of the global order as the U.S. recedes from view and China strengthens its footprint.“There is deep insecurity in the party,” Spahn told reporters in Berlin before the meeting on Monday. “We need to make sure that Merkel is not the last CDU chancellor.”The vote in Hamburg reflected a nationwide realignment in Germany’s political establishment with the CDU declining and the Greens soaring. Party leaders drew a straight line from the fiasco in Thuringia to the Hamburg result.“What happened there and all the discussions linked to it was anything but a tailwind for the CDU,” said Paul Ziemiak, the party’s general secretary.Kramp-Karrenbauer spent last week talking to potential candidates, including Friedrich Merz, who lost a power struggle with Merkel a decade ago; socially conservative Health Minister Spahn; and Armin Laschet, a moderate who leads Germany’s biggest state, North Rhine-Westphalia. CDU lawmaker Norbert Roettgen upended the choreographed selection process by announcing a candidacy, too.Ahead of the election, fears of far-right extremism in Germany surged after a gunman near Frankfurt killed 11 people, including himself, in what authorities said was a xenophobic attack. In response, Merkel vowed to eradicate racist “poison” and stand against “those who try to divide us in Germany.”In Thuringia, Merkel’s party sought to restore a semblance of stability on Friday by agreeing to support the re-election of the previous state premier, whose anti-capitalist Left party is anathema to the Christian Democrats at the national level.That plan was immediately thrown into question as several national CDU leaders, including most potential contenders to succeed Kramp-Karrenbauer, raised objections, saying it would harm the party’s credibility.(Adds details on process in fourth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net;Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Chris Reiter, Andrew BlackmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.