Editing Helmut Kohl (section)

=== First candidacy for the chancellorship and the 1976 Bundestag election ===
On 9 March 1975, Kohl and the CDU faced re-election in Rhineland-Palatinate. What placed Kohl, who intended to run for chancellor, under increased pressure was the fact that the sister parties of CDU and CSU were set to decide upon their leading candidate for the [[1976 West German federal election|upcoming federal elections]] in mid-1975. CSU chairman [[Franz Josef Strauss]] had ambitions to run and publicly put Kohl under pressure over what result would be acceptable in the state elections. On election day, the CDU achieved a result of 53.9 per cent, the highest-ever result in the state, consolidating Kohl's position. Strauß's bid for the chancellorship was further put into jeopardy when in March 1975 the magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' published a transcript of a speech held in November 1974, in which Strauß claimed that the [[Red Army Faction]], a West German armed struggle group responsible for multiple attacks at the time, had sympathizers in the ranks of the SPD and FDP. The scandal deeply unsettled the public and effectively ruled out Strauß for the candidacy.{{sfn|Köhler|2014|pages=232–234}}

On 12 May 1975, the federal board of the CDU unanimously nominated Kohl as the candidate for the general elections, without consulting their Bavarian sister party beforehand. In reaction, the CSU nominated Strauß and only a mediation by former chancellor Kiesinger was able to resolve the issue and confirm Kohl as the candidate for both parties.{{sfn|Köhler|2014|p=236}} In June 1975, Kohl was also re-elected as party chairman, achieving a result of 98.44 per cent.{{sfn|Köhler|2014|p=237}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F049283-0016, Berlin, CDU Bundestagswahlkampf, Kohl.jpg|thumb|Kohl in [[West Berlin|Berlin]] at a campaign event for the [[1976 West German federal election]]]]
Strauß took the discord as a starting point to evaluate chances of expanding the CSU on the federal level, such as having separate electoral lists in the states of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], Lower Saxony, Hamburg, and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]. He hoped to draw away right-wing voters from the FDP towards the CSU and went as far as having private meetings with industrialists in North Rhine-Westphalia. These attempts led to discomfort within the membership base of the CDU and hampered both parties' chances in the upcoming elections. Kohl himself remained silent during these tensions, which some interpreted as a lack of leadership, while others such as future president [[Karl Carstens]] praised him for seeking a consensus at the centre of the party.{{sfn|Köhler|2014|pages=242–244}} In the 1976 federal election, the CDU/CSU coalition performed very well, winning 48.6% of the vote. They were kept out of government by the centre-left cabinet formed by the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) and [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP), led by Social Democrat [[Helmut Schmidt]]. Kohl then retired as minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate to become the leader of the CDU/CSU in the [[Bundestag]]. He was succeeded by Bernhard Vogel.<ref>"Regierungen in Rheinland-Pfalz", in ''Wahlergebnisse in Deutschland'', p. 41, Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, 2005</ref>