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Berlin / Munich (dpa) - After the defeat of CSU boss Markus Söder against CDU chairman Armin Laschet in the power struggle for the candidacy for chancellor, the demand for online memberships at the CSU has increased “by leaps and bounds”.
You can hardly keep up with the processing, said the CSU on Thursday when asked. In the past few days, several hundred applications have been received - from all over Germany. It is not yet possible to give concrete figures due to the delayed recording and processing of applications. The Union offspring from the Junge Union (JU), the majority of whom had spoken out in favor of Söder, called for the CDU and CSU to join forces after the decision in favor of Laschet.
The CSU has been offering online memberships since September 2020, nationwide.
"We are pleased that this offer is now increasingly in demand," said Secretary General Markus Blume.
The first online member at the time was CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak.
CSU online members can get involved digitally, get exclusive access to information, take part in online surveys and training courses and take part in digital party events.
Unlike a full member, an online member does not belong to a local association of the CSU and has no voting rights within the party.
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The CSU apparently wants to take advantage of the encouragement for Söder: Among other things, it is aggressively promoting the possibility of online membership on Twitter. «Support Markus Söder? It's possible with us! ”Read a CSU tweet on Thursday. There was no official reaction from the CDU to the action.
In the Lower Saxony CDU there were more exits than entries after the vote for Laschet. But there could be no question of a wave of exit, said a party spokesman in Hanover. There were no concrete figures. CDU state chief Bernd Althusmann had positioned himself for Laschet early on - consultations with the CDU district chairman on Sunday evening had shown a different picture. On Wednesday evening there was an online discussion between Laschet and the CDU state executive and the district chairperson. Initially, nothing was known about the results. In Lower Saxony the CDU has around 55,700 members.
JU boss Tilman Kuban said in a joint online appearance with the chairman of the Junge Union Bayern, Christian Doleschal, it is now everyone's responsibility to "reunite the Union community with Laschet and ensure that there are no losers in the Union" .
With Söder, the JU had mostly supported another candidate - "but also always made it clear that we would go into the election campaign together with the CDU and CSU and the candidate for chancellor," said Kuban.
It distinguishes Söder that he is ready to fight together for the Union.
Söder is needed.
After the decision there were some withdrawals from the JU.
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Doleschal thanked the CDU regional associations for their support for the Bavarian Prime Minister. It is not a matter of course that they would have positioned themselves so clearly. Now it is important that signals come from Laschet and the CDU headquarters so that the mood can be turned. Söder is a team player, he will support the CDU, as the entire CSU will do.
The JU has long been campaigning for the Chancellor's term of office to be limited to three terms of office - the demand was included in a 26-point catalog of demands for a government program of the CDU and CSU, which is now to be discussed with the members.
The paper states, among other things, that Germany should once again be made into a "rising country for everyone".
This should be possible with education, tax breaks for small and medium incomes, innovations for new business models and leaner, faster and more digital administration.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210422-99-313484 / 2
CSU tweet