I think if you line up the CDU Party membership...roughly 90-percent want her to move on. Add to it...her health has been questioned in 2019, and it’s obvious on state trips that she’s on a rest-cycle or given some reprieve from standing obligations.
If anything, she has a list of people who are appropriate (in her mind) to stand for party leadership. Merz is not on that list. Her primary candidate (2 years ago) was AKK (currently as Defense Minister). That suggestion didn’t go well, and AKK won’t stand for the Chancellor.
Just one more sniff
The CDU is the conservative party, correct?