German conservatives agree on Merkel as chancellor candidate for September election

MUNICH Germany’s conservative parties agreed on Monday to nominate Angela Merkel as their candidate for chancellor in a Sept. 24 election despite their long feud over how to tackle the migrant influx, participants at a conservative meeting told Reuters.

The Christian Social Union (CSU) – the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) – has long criticised Merkel for allowing more than a million refugees into Germany over the last two years.

The CDU and CSU are meeting in Munich to discuss how to defeat a resurgent Social Democratic Party (SPD) in September’s federal election. Merkel and CSU leader Horst Seehofer are due to present their joint election strategy later on Monday.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke- Writing by Michelle Martin- Editing by Michael Nienaber)