The decision of the CDU to determine its new federal chairman with the help of a survey of all members initially has no direct impact on the approach of the Hessian state association.

This results from discussions between the FAZ and district chairmen.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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The connection between the national and the state level lies in the fact that not only the federal party, but also the Hessian Union is facing new elections. They are scheduled for mid-May. Whoever prevails as chairman, will also lead the CDU as the top candidate in the next state election in autumn 2023. Against this background, the state party is currently discussing behind the scenes whether the 69-year-old Prime Minister and party leader Volker Bouffier should run again or pave the way for a successor.

Klaus Willsch, CDU chairman in the Rheingau-Taunus district and member of the Bundestag, stated that the CDU as a whole was “not on the way to becoming a primary election party” and that the principle of representation still applies.

Members wanted a leadership to look up to.

Only when this requirement is no longer met does the wish for a member survey arise, as the district chairmen rightly expressed almost unanimously at a conference in Berlin on Saturday.

Details of the organizational process and a schedule are expected to be determined by the CDU federal executive committee on Tuesday.

A blueprint for Hessen

Willsch recalled that Bouffier had declared at the small party conference in Hofheim at the end of September that the question of future leadership in Hesse was "high on his agenda". As reported, the head of government was asked to explain himself soon to great applause. Now we will first wait and see which solution Bouffier proposes, said Willsch, who is considered a conservative, critical spirit. If Bouffier's ideas were not accepted by large parts of the party, the member survey at the national level could be a blueprint for Hesse.

The vote of the district chairman is exactly the right decision for the national level, said Ingmar Jung, member of the Bundestag, who is party leader in Wiesbaden.

But it applies to a special situation like the one that arose in Berlin, and not to Wiesbaden.

As reported, the call for greater grassroots participation was justified by the fact that, contrary to the mood in the CDU, the party leadership had first asserted Armin Laschet as party leader and then as candidate for chancellor.

The former Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble and the Deputy Federal Chairman Bouffier had campaigned particularly hard for him.

Processing of the election defeat

The personal question is just one of several that the district chairmen have dealt with, explained Axel Wintermeyer, party chairman in the Main-Taunus district and, as head of the Hessian State Chancellery, a close associate of Bouffier. He also agreed to the member survey. But it is also about the substantive processing of the election defeat of September 26th and the new federal political orientation of the party.

In addition, there are organizational questions that arise from experience in the election campaign.

She will discuss Secretary General Paul Ziemiak with representatives of the Hessian CDU this Thursday in Hofheim.

Wintermeyer emphasized that the vote of the district chairmen in favor of a member survey “exclusively” affects the federal government.

In this sense, the spokesman for the state party also expressed himself.

Wintermeyer called the question of whether a member survey could ideally also take place in Hesse as "hypothetical".