The former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz is running for the third time in a row for the CDU chairmanship. The board of his CDU district association Hochsauerland nominated the 66-year-old unanimously on Monday evening in a digital meeting for the upcoming member survey on the future party chairman. In addition to Merz, the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen and the executive head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, have announced their candidacy to succeed Armin Laschet. The new chairman is to be elected by the 1001 delegates at a party congress in Hanover on January 21, following a member survey planned for December.
Merz explained his candidacy at the meeting, according to a press release. He was quoted as saying: "I thank the members of my district executive for the nomination and I apply again for the office of chairman of the CDU in Germany." have encouraged this candidacy ”. On this Tuesday afternoon he will "introduce my part of the new leadership team of the CDU that is applying with me in Berlin," said Merz.
CDU district chief Matthias Kerkhoff said: “We support this application with full conviction and will support Friedrich Merz on his way.
He can rely on his CDU in the Hochsauerlandkreis. "Merz is already approaching the office of party leader for the third time after the now only executive Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her withdrawal from the chair in 2018.
Election for chairmanship on January 21st
The application deadline for further candidates to succeed the chairman Armin Laschet, who had failed after less than a year, runs until 6:00 p.m. this Wednesday.
Then proposals must be submitted in writing to the CDU federal office.
In the CDU, preparations are in full swing for a round of introductions to candidates to succeed Armin Laschet as CDU boss. According to information from the German Press Agency in Berlin, there should be at least one format in which all applicants introduce themselves to the members and which is also broadcast on the Internet or on television, for example. At the beginning of November, the federal executive board had also decided that possible candidates should present themselves on the CDU homepage for the member survey starting on December 4th. There should be a uniform format with a photo and a short résumé.
Since no formal decision on the chairman can be made through a member survey, the CDU leadership also decided that the candidate should be proposed to the party congress by the board of directors with an absolute majority. The new chairman is then to be elected on January 21 by the 1001 delegates at a party congress in Hanover. The survey of around 400,000 members about the future party leader starts on December 4th.
Merz is not only in pole position for his supporters for the first round of the member survey, which should last until December 16. Even critics suspect that he is likely to be in the lead among the members who are more than 60 years old on average - also because of his level of awareness. Merz is likely to be chosen primarily by those who, after the Merkel years of the political center, long for a return to conservative core values of the party. In his earlier applications, he usually had few supporters among women. You can hear a lot of fans in the CDU, Merz has with the conservatives and in the east of the country and also with the youngsters of the Junge Union and in the economic wing.
The party successor to the failed candidate for Chancellor Laschet has to master difficult tasks at the same time: giving a completely insecure CDU new self-confidence and preventing further split, repairing the severely damaged relationship with the small Bavarian sister CSU and promoting a new profile in terms of content.
The Union also needs a powerful opposition leader.