Germans undecided on whether Merkel’s CDU heir can fill her shoes

Christian Democrat continuity candidate Armin Laschet is struggling to live up to his brief

Angela Merkel's shoe size is 38, she revealed to a rain-sodden, momentarily confused audience at an election rally on the Baltic coast on Tuesday night. That is relatively small - 5.5 in UK sizes - which means her shoes should not be too hard to fill. That's manageable," Merkel said.

As the German chancellor chuckled mischievously, she gestured towards the man on her left, a 33-year-old tax auditor who is running to inherit the north-eastern constituency she has held since it was created in 1990. But her comment also applied to the man on her right, Armin Laschet, who is meant to lead the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) into the post-Merkel era as her designated continuity candidate at Sunday's national election.