BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party has elected Armin Laschet, the pragmatic governor of Germany’s most populous state, as its new leader – a sign of continuity sent months before an election in which voters will decide who will be the new chancellor .
Laschet defeated Friedrich Merz, a conservative and one-time Merkel rival, at an online meeting of the Christian Democratic Union on Saturday.
He won 521 votes against Merz’s 466; a third candidate, the leading legislator Norbert Roettgen, was eliminated in a first round of voting.
The vote on Saturday is not the last word on who the chancellor’s candidate will be in the September 26 election in Germany, but Laschet will run for chancellor, or play a major role in who does. .
There was no clear favorite to vote at an online meeting of the CDU on Saturday. A first round of voting among about 1,000 delegates yielded a de facto draw between Merz and Laschet, and neither won a majority.
Laschet (59) is the governor of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia – a traditional fortress in the center-left where he won the 2017 election. He is seen as more in line with Merkel’s pragmatic centricity and on Saturday pointed to the value of continuity and moderation.
“We must speak clearly, but not polarize,” he told delegates. “We need to be able to integrate, to keep society together.”
The decision ends an 11-month leadership limbo in the CDU after he once favored Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, failed to impose the party and announced her resignation. A vote on her successor has been delayed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Laschet’s victory will not be the last word on who Merkel wants to succeed as chancellor.
The CDU is part of the Union bloc along with the Christian Social Union, which is alone in Bavaria, and the two parties will decide together on the center-right candidate. The Union currently has a healthy poll, helped by positive reviews of Merkel’s handling of the pandemic.
The leader of the CSU, Markus Soeder, the governor of Bavaria, is widely regarded as a potential candidate after gaining a political position during the pandemic. Some see Health Minister Jens Spahn as deputy leader of CDU under Laschet, as a possible competitor.
Merkel, who has been chancellor since 2005, announced in late 2018 that she would not seek a fifth term.