The executive board of Angela Merkel’s party, the CDU, supports Armin Laschet as a candidate for the chancellery ahead of the federal elections on September 26th. After more than 6 hours of debate, 77.5% of the board members voted in favor of Laschet while the leading contender of the Bavarian sister party CSU, Markus Soeder, obtained 22.5% of the votes. Soeder had already made it known that he would accept the CDU’s decision.
Soeder, 54, president of the CSU and governor of Bavaria, is more popular than Laschet in the polls, but is ready to step aside “without resentment”. The 60-year-old centrist former television journalist Laschet in the government of North Rhine-Westphalia is the candidate in continuity with Angela Merkel. 5 months after leaving and penalized in the polls for the management of the coronavirus, the chancellor has never formally sided with Laschet.
Germany, the Greens have chosen: Annalena Baerbock will run for the chancellery
by our correspondent Tonia Mastrobuoni
Speaking via video conference, Hessian regional premier Volker Bouffier, who supports Laschet, warned that the decision “may not be accepted by the grassroots”. The feud in the conservative camp is contrasted by the clear decision of the Green Party that has deployed Annalena Baerbock as a candidate for the chancellery. Laschet, congratulating her on the appointment, promised “a fair electoral campaign” and urged the parties to be “respectful”.
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