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Mainz (dpa / lrs) - According to Christian Baldauf, the election of the CDU federal chairman is not yet a decision on the candidate for chancellor.
«First of all we elect a chairman.
Then we'll see who can become chancellor, "said the Rhineland-Palatinate CDU top candidate for the state elections of the German press agency in Mainz.
"First of all, one should only give clear answers to this chairmanship."
Because it is about setting up the CDU with future issues.
"You can't just use it as a stepping stone for the candidacy for chancellor."
It is important that the party rallies behind the new chairman after the election.
«I am in good spirits!
And as far as the candidate for chancellor is concerned: The CDU and CSU decide together and take the time they need for it. "
Baldauf appealed to the unity of the CDU after the election of the chairman: "I expect that after the party congress all the strength of the newly elected chairman will be put into the election campaigns in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate."
Both state parliaments are elected on March 14th.
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The CDU wants to digitally elect the successor to CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the first party in Germany at an online party congress on January 16 and confirm it with a subsequent postal vote.
In addition to North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet, ex-Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and foreign politician Norbert Röttgen want to lead the party.
Baldauf did not reveal which of the three applicants for the CDU chairmanship he would choose as a delegate.
The chairman of the CDU parliamentary group emphasized: "I think the competition is good."
Merz, Laschet and Röttgen covered a broad spectrum.
“One of them runs the largest federal state, the other comes from business.
The third has a political function, but in foreign policy. "
And: "Everyone has their advantages and disadvantages."
All three candidates are, however, "excellent", and the party has found "a good procedure with which we can quickly elect a new chairman and that is legally secure".