Friedrich Merz will be German centre-right's candidate for chancellor

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz will run as the conservative candidate for chancellor in next year's nationwide elections, party sources told dpa on Tuesday.

Merz will aim to lead the CDU/CSU bloc to victory and replace Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular centre-left coalition.

Merz is meeting on Tuesday with Markus Söder, the conservative premier of Bavaria long viewed as a top potential rival for the candidacy.

Söder is expected to announce he will not seek the nomination and will instead back Merz for the job at a joint press conference called for noon (1000 GMT) on Tuesday in Berlin, sources in the CDU/CSU told dpa.

Merz leads the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), while Söder is the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

On Monday evening, Merz also earned the endorsement of another potential rival for the chancellor candidacy, Hendrik Wüst, the CDU premier of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state.

The final official decision on the CDU/CSU candidate is expected to be made by the leadership committees of both parties.

Merz will likely be viewed as the favourite to lead the CDU/CSU back into government next year, four years after the disastrous 2021 elections pushed the bloc from power after 16 years under former chancellor Angela Merkel.

Scholz, a centre-left Social Democrat (SPD), has been plagued by miserable poll ratings and infighting among ministers in his coalition government with the Greens and pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP).