Merkel's CDU party in crisis after 'heir' AKK quits over far right row German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party and her plans to stay on until 2021 are plunged into disarray after her heir-apparent gives up her leadership ambitions in a deepening crisis over ties between the centre and far right. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), announces that she is standing down as CDU leader and will not seek to be the party's candidate for chancellor in next year's general elections. She opts out of the leadership race after barely a year at the head of the party -- a period marked by internal battles over whether to cooperate with the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD). IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES