Political heavyweights in Germany’s ruling CDU announced on Tuesday their bids for the crisis-wracked party’s top job, with a staunch ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel and her nemesis jumping into the race. Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union has been in turmoil after her heir apparent Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer resigned as party chief this month over her supposed failure to stop regional MPs from cooperating with the far right. Armin Laschet, premier of Germany’s most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia, became the first to throw his name into the hat alongside Health Minister Jens Spahn as his potential deputy.