. >> palestinian are the mahmud abbas has announced plans for the first election in more than 15 yearslegislative elections will happen on january 22nd and a second presidential election on july 31st. the last election saw abbas replacing yasser arafat. german chancellor's angela merkel's party is choosing a new leader. he has steered the country through a series of crises since she took office in -- joining us now is our correspondents in berlin, nick spicer. the person who replaces merkel will have big shoes to fill. who are the main candidates? reporter: there are three of them in this rather change virtual party congress, twice postponed. only eight petitions in the giant berlin congress hall. i n't cover it because nobody else is allowed in. watching and will vote online and will continue to do to tomorrow. the first one is a right winger, a fiscal conservative. he got into trouble with merkel and ended up leaving parliament. he is seen as somebody who wants them to have a stronger volleys. there's a governor of one of the biggest regions of germany who is said to be merkel's favo