BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday declined to back any of the candidates seeking to replace her as party leader of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) at a convention in December.

“It’s true that Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Jens Spahn both announced their candidacy today,” Merkel told reporters after a closed-door meeting. She added she did not want to influence the election of her successor as CDU party leader.

Asked whether her announcement not to run for a fifth term as chancellor also applied for a snap election before 2021, Merkel said that she just made this clear and that she did not want to participate in any further speculation.