German opposition leader Friedrich Merz is in position to be the top conservative candidate for chancellor in next year’s nationwide elections after picking up a key endorsement from a potential rival on Tuesday. Bavaria’s conservative state premier, Markus Söder, announced at a joint press conference in Berlin that he’s backing Merz, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democrat (CDU), and will not seek the nomination himself. Söder, the chairman of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has previously angled for the highest national office and has been seen as…