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BERLIN - The two leaders of Germany's conservatives have agreed to nominate Christian Democrat (CDU) chief Friedrich Merz to run as chancellor in next year's federal election, party sources said on Tuesday. Markus Soeder, head of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), will stand aside, two party sources told Reuters. That clears the way for Merz, 68, an economic liberal who has driven the party to the right since becoming party chief in 2022 after Angela Merkel's 16-year hold on the chancellery. In particular, he has called for a tougher line on migration. Merz and Soeder are due to hold a joint news conference at noon (1000 GMT) amid speculation they will officially announce which one of them will be the candidate. The conservative bloc is leading opinion polls, with some surveys even putting it ahead of the combined support for the three parties in Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP). Another possible candidate for the conservative nomination, North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wuest, said on Monday he would not join the race and that he backed Merz. Earlier, Bloomberg News had cited a person familiar with the decision as saying Merz would run as the conservative candidate for chancellor in the election. There was no comment from the CDU or CSU. REUTERS