the favorite is the current cdu,al secretatary of the said to be angela merkel's favorite candidate.he is on the centrist siside of ththe political spectrum. she successfully led a elections in her native area. she is the favorite according to the latest polls. another contender is a former corporate lawyer, someone who never saw eye to eye with angela merkel. he is keen to represent the people who did not approve of merkel's policies. those are the main contenders. the current health mininister, e youngest of the contenders. we will know early this afternoon what the cdu will have dedecided. anchor: w we will check iwith you when the vote gets underway in a few hours. thank you very much. next, a migrant rescue ship credited with saving thousands of lives in the mediterranean is to end all operations. doctors without borders saying a smear campaign by european governments is to blame. here,er spending weeks the aquarius, the last charity ship active off the libyan coast, is terminating operations. the end of aquarius means more says doctors without borders, blaming obstruction tacti