Christian Wulff
After the 23 May announcement that federal elections will be advanced to September 2005, Wulff announced that he was not a candidate for the CDU nomination for Chancellor. He has not completed his first term as Premier of Lower Saxony. Instead, Wulff declared his support for Angela Merkel. She was the CDU leader in the Bundestag. It was expected that the Christian Democrats would win the election and form a government, and that Wulff would be given a position in this government. However, with the September 18 election resulting in a hung parliament, the outcome is unclear. Wulff continued to be named as a possible CDU candidate for Chancellor, particularly if Chancellor Merkel failed to secure a decisive mandate in the 2009 federal election.