Delegates at party conference give chancellor standing ovation as she ends 18 years at the head of the CDU

Angela Merkel received rapturous applause from her Christian Democrats on Friday, after delivering an emotional speech marking the end of 18 years as party leader in which she said she had been honoured to serve them.

Merkel, 64, fought back tears as CDU delegates gave her a 10-minute standing ovation accompanied by cheers and cries of “Danke Angie”. Delegates held posters stating: “Thanks boss, for 18 years of leadership”.

The result of the vote for Merkel’s successor saw Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer elected following a nail-biting contest and the first open CDU leadership race in almost 50 years. The result is seen as making it more likely that Merkel will be able to see out her fourth term until 2021.

Admitting she had sometimes been an “infuriating” leader, “driving some to distraction with my last-minute decision-making” – a reference to her controversial decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees – Merkel said it was now time for the CDU to “embark on a new chapter”.

She urged the party to ensure it was “well-equipped, motivated and united” to face the tough challenges of the future.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Merkel looks up at a vast sign thanking her for her leadership. Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

More than 1,000 party delegates were eligible to vote on what has been described as the most momentous decision for the party in nearly 50 years and one that will decide the direction not only of the CDU, but also of their country and their continent.

Initially described as the frontrunner, Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK, who has 18 years of frontline political experience including six years as leader of the state of Saarland, has faced tough competition from Friedrich Merz, the CDU’s former parliamentary leader who had parachuted in from his high-powered job as an economics lawyer in the banking industry, insisting he could win back many of the millions of voters the party has lost to rightwing populism.

Merkel had refused to publicly endorse any candidate, though Kramp-Karrenbauer was said to be her clear choice, not least because she propelled her to the position of CDU general secretary in February.

But she pointedly used her 30-minute valediction to praise Kramp-Karrenbauer for taking the CDU to a 40% victory in the state of Saarland last year, when she was leader of the state, and added: “We have the strength to break trends, to win elections, if we fight together and decisively.”

Kramp-Karrenbauer was seen to fight back tears.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer applauds Angela Merkel. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Ahead of the trio presenting themselves to delegates before the first round vote, leading party members who have previously been deeply critical of Merkel heaped praise on her in a string of speeches that acknowledged her profound impact on modernising the party almost beyond recognition from a deeply conservative to a solidly centrist force. The party has increasingly turned its back on her since the refugee crisis of 2015 – when she was accused of failing to secure either party or parliamentary backing before her decision to allow over a million refugees to enter Germany – but this was barely alluded to, except by observers on the sidelines.

One, a 77-year-old party member, referred to the accolades as “hypocritical”. “These are the very people who will be glad to see the back of her,” he said. “But they will miss her.”

For the past few days German television has repeatedly replayed highlights from Merkel’s time as leader, including footage of her acceptance speech in 2000, when she appeared almost embarrassed to be taking on the role of the leader of one of Europe’s most powerful conservative forces. She became chancellor five years later.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, variously dubbed mini-Merkel or Merkel’s crown princess, offers a similar path to her mentor’s, although the 56-year-old has been adamant she will carve out her own line.

Merkel has expressed her determination to stay on as chancellor for the remaining three years of her term in office. Fifty-six per cent of Germans support her decision to do so.

Her reason not to stand for re-election as head of the party is seen as strategic, allowing the party – which she joined at the age of 35 following the collapse of the Berlin Wall – to recalibrate and prepare for the next election.

But it also allows her to elegantly choreograph her own departure from the political stage, something few top leaders are able to do.

The strategy is not without risk. Merkel will have to work closely with Kramp-Karrenbauer, but she is considered likely to be less antagonistic towards her than Merz would have been.

CDU members, more than 1,600 journalists and hundreds of diplomatic observers from around the world poured into the northern port city of Hamburg – where, by coincidence, Merkel was born in 1954.

It marks the first time since 1971 that the party has been able to vote for a new leader. Most decisions have been made in backroom deals in which the party members have had little or no say. The longest-serving head of the party was Helmut Kohl, who held the post between 1973 and 1998.

Merkel said in her speech that the CDU had produced the chancellor for 50 out of the almost 70 years since the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.