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Laschett, 59, prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and close ally of Merkel, won the second round of the leader’s election on the second day of the virtual convention with 521 votes and defeated opposition Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who received 466 deputies.
In the first round, F. Merz outpointed A. Laschet by five votes, while foreign affairs expert Norbert Roettgen was third and did not advance to the next fight.
Congressional delegates have yet to confirm their election by mail. The final results will be announced on January 22.
During the electoral campaign, F. Merz promised to incline the party more to the right. In an article published in the weekly Der Spiegel, he stressed that calls to continue the current CDU policy are “as unacceptable as the vague claim to adhere to the center in all cases.”
At the time, Laschet promised to continue Merkel’s more moderate course.
Speaking before Saturday’s vote, Laschet called for “continuity” and noted that it would not be easy for the CDU to retain voters when Merkel was no longer in command of the country.
“We need continuity of success,” emphasized the candidate, directly rejecting Merz’s vision.
Merz received little support from the women of the CDU and tried to rectify the situation by emphasizing good relations with his wife and daughter, but these statements were ridiculed on social media.
“Of course, any straight man and father is essentially a women’s rights movement unto itself,” wrote one Twitter rights user.
At the opening of the party’s convention on Friday, which was held in virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merkel expressed her disagreement with Merz’s position and called on delegates to follow a centralist course.
“As a center Popular Party, we naturally seek solutions that counteract conflicts and always promote … social cohesion,” emphasized the Chancellor.
“It has always distinguished us as the ruling party,” Merkel added.
Team support
Merkel gave more clues about the choice acceptable to her, and expressed her hope that “a team will be chosen to take the fate of our proud party into their own hands.”
Although the chancellor did not mention any names, the call appears to have been made to Mr. Laschet, who had chosen current Health Minister Jens Spahn as his potential deputy.
Merkel has previously said that Laschet “has the resources” to become chancellor.
The 66-year-old leader, elected in 2005 as Germany’s youngest chancellor and the first woman to hold the post, plans to resign after four terms and 16 years at the helm of the government when new general elections are held in September.
Merkel resigned as chair of the CDU in 2018, but her backed successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, was forced to resign due to an inadequate response to a regional election scandal.
The head of the CDU traditionally leads the Union of Christian Democrats and its ally CSU in Bavaria in federal parliamentary elections as a candidate for chancellor. So Laschet has a good chance of securing the post of head of government later this year.
AFP / “Scanpix” nuotr./Angela Merkel
Chancellor candidate
However, in recent months, with German public debate dominating the issue of the pandemic, many have called for another candidate to be nominated for the post of chancellor.
The most popular today is CSU leader and Bavarian Prime Minister M. Soeder, whose resolute response to the pandemic has earned him praise and helped bring him to the forefront of national media attention.
Mr. Spahn could also be a candidate, according to the media, who explained on the sidelines if he had a real chance.
For these reasons, the competition in Merkel’s Conservative Alliance for the right to run for the top job in the German government is far from over in the run-up to the September 26 elections.
Merkel has helped Germany weather the global and eurozone financial crisis by firmly leading the political center of the CDU.
The Chancellor’s popularity declined when Germany left its borders open to a massive influx of refugees in 2015. This policy divided society and led to the rise of the far right.
However, with the end of her reign, Merkel’s support grew again as a result of her efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic, making it increasingly difficult for Germans to imagine political life without this leader.
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