Armin Laschet is the recently elected CDU leader, and current premier of North Rhine-Westphalia
BERLIN, April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Armin Laschet has won the backing of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party to run as a centre-right candidate to succeed her in September’s elections.
The leader of the Christian Democrat (CDU) was supported by 77.5% of the party’s executive board members.
His rival Markus Söder, who heads the CDU’s Bavarian sister party the CSU, was supported by 22.5% of the board.
Söder had earlier said it was up to the CDU to choose who would represent the conservative alliance.
Merkel, who has been chancellor since 2005, is set to stand down at the Sept 26 federal elections.
The CDU party’s executive debated via video for six hours before making their choice, which came despite Söder, the 54-year-old premier of Bavaria, having a clear lead in opinion polls. The youth wing of the two parties, the Junge Union, had thrown its weight behind him ahead of the meeting and some CDU state premiers said they favoured the Bavarian leader, too.
As leader of the CDU, the larger of the two conservative parties, Laschet would normally be considered the natural successor.
The 60-year-old premier of North Rhine-Westphalia – Germany’s most populous state – was elected CDU leader in January. His rival Söder was expected to give his reaction to the late-night vote on Tuesday, but he had earlier said that, if the bigger of the two parties chose Laschet, then he would have his full support as well as that of his party.
Merkel has not publicly expressed a preference for either potential candidate. A candidate from the CSU has never won a federal election before. Two previous attempts by CSU leaders failed in 1980 and 2002.
However, the conservative alliance is facing a decline in popularity following the coronavirus pandemic, slipping to about 27% in polls.
With five months to go before the general election, they are under pressure from the Greens who announced a candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, for the first time in their history.
Baerbock, 40, is likely to be the only woman in the race.
The Social Democrats have already announced their candidate for chancellor, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz. — NNN-AGENCIES