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The CDU politician Friedrich Merz has announced that he wants to apply for a Bundestag mandate in the constituency of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.
"I am very happy about the nomination of the city associations Arnsberg and Sundern, and I am ready to run," he said on Tuesday evening on Twitter.
Merz, who was defeated by North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet in the election as CDU boss in January, must now prevail within the CDU against the previous constituency candidate, the Bundestag member Patrick Sensburg, as well as against another applicant.
Sensburg had announced several times in the past few days that he wanted to run again.
Should Merz prevail, he would be the direct candidate of the CDU in the Hochsauerland constituency.
After his defeat in January in a Reuters interview, Merz had announced his willingness to take over the post of Federal Minister of Economics, but rejected a move to the CDU presidium, which the new chief boss Laschet had offered him.
Laschet then announced that he wanted to involve Merz in the party.
The question of whether this succeeds is considered within the party to be decisive for a united appearance of the Union.
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