Angela Merkel spent several years as a political novice in Christian Democratic Union (CDU), serving as the political director and making occasional electioneering appearances. She was involved in the party despite lacking political experience after she was elected in 1990 as federal youth minister at the age of 27.
Merkel famously became Germany’s first female chancellor in 2005 after the party called upon her to lead the conservative bloc. It did not take long before critics rose in the ranks of the party to denounce her lack of experience. One of them, Horst Seehofer, the powerful chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU), has called for Merkel to quit as soon as the Bavarian state elections in October.
Merkel, 59, has served as chancellor of Germany since 2005, which is nearly 12 years. Last year, she put her ruling coalition together to avoid a crisis in Germany as she sought to serve her fourth term as chancellor. She formed a coalition with two smaller parties, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens.