UPDATE - Germany’s Merkel to step down from party leadership

UPDATES WITH CANDIDATES; ADDS MORE DETAILS; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Monday that she will not again seek her party’s helm in December in the wake of the Christian Democrats' heavy losses in recent regional polls.

Speaking to reporters in Berlin after a meeting of her party’s executive board, Merkel said she wanted to open the way for change within the party.

“I will not be standing for reelection as party chair in the upcoming CDU party conference in December,” she said.

Merkel underlined, however, that she intends to remain chancellor until her term ends in 2021.

“My fourth term will be my last as chancellor,” she said, adding that she will not seek any political position afterwards.

CDU Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a close ally of Merkel, and Health Minister Jens Spahn, an outspoken critic of Merkel’s refugee policy, have announced that they will seek the party helm.

Merkel, who has led the CDU for 18 years, came under growing pressure after Christian Democrats suffered heavy losses in recent regional polls in the states of Bavaria and Hesse.

In both of these states, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered regional parliaments for the first time.

Merkel’s critics within the CDU blamed her refugee policy for the party’s heavy losses in the regional polls.