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reThe three CDU presidential candidates agreed to resolve the party leadership issue at a party conference in mid-January. CDU Secretary General Paul Ziemiak announced this on Saturday night via Twitter. Former Union Parliamentary Group Leader Friedrich Merz, NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet and foreign politician Norbert Röttgen agreed, after intensive consultation, to request the CDU Federal Executive Committee to hold the congress of the party right now.
Ziemiak wrote: “The candidates prefer a party conference with a central presence. If that and a decentralized party congress are not possible, they advocate for a party congress in line with the digital election of the federal executive committee. This election must then be confirmed by a final vote written only once. According to Ziemiak, the final decision on the procedure in detail, as well as legal and technical questions, will be made at the CDU board meeting on December 14.
Especially in such difficult times, unity in the CDU is particularly important for Germany, Ziemiak wrote. “I am very happy that the candidates are sending this strong sign of unity,” said the secretary general. Outgoing party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also took part in the conversation. He had previously warned the FAS against “harmful self-employment” by the CDU. The CDU should be “smart enough to refrain from doing that,” others have already shown how fruitless internal disputes are.
The three candidates had also mutually agreed to postpone the virtual round of discussions scheduled for this Tuesday due to the current situation in the crown. The round must recover in time before the party congress in January.
On Monday, the CDU’s federal executive board decided to cancel the party conference scheduled for early December to elect a new president due to the corona pandemic. While Laschet had spoken in favor of an advance postponement, his competitor Merz vehemently criticized the decision. He saw it as an action by the “establishment” of the party against him and for the benefit of Laschet.
Now the party congress could take place on January 16. Recently, the CDU deemed the gathering of 1001 delegates unlikely to be hosted in a central location in light of the rampant corona pandemic. One possibility would be for delegates to meet at various locations and vote at the polls. A digital party congress, in which digital voting takes place directly, is currently not legally possible.
