Germany: a primary and three candidates for the presidency of the CDU
From left to right, the three leadership candidates of the German Christian Democratic Party, the CDU: Helge Braun, Friedrich Merz and Christian Röttgen, © AFP - Bernd von Jutrczenka, Tobias Schwarz
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Three years after Angela Merkel's withdrawal from the leadership of the German Christian Democrats, the party has already worn out two successors.
After the severe defeat suffered in September in the legislative elections, the CDU opts for a first and organizes a primary.
The deadline for applications ended this Wednesday evening, November 17 at 6 p.m.
Candidates have two weeks to present themselves before the party members vote.
A congress in January will confirm their choice.
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With our correspondent in Germany,
Pascal Thibaut
Three men for a presidency and a black box for this first: the 400,000 members of the CDU who will appoint their next leader.
After its historic failure in September, the CDU, struck, chose, for lack of a real alternative, to innovate with a primary.
A procedure used by the Social Democrats two years ago.
Two of the candidates are repeat offenders.
Conservative Friedrich Merz, 66, close to business circles, failed twice at a congress to take over the presidency of his party three years ago and earlier this year.
To compensate for his handicaps, his age and his political profile, he surrounded himself with a colleague from the social wing of the CDU and a woman.
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To read also: For the first time, the president of the CDU will be elected directly by the activists
Difficult prognosis
Second candidate, Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the last Bundestag, is a centrist.
The same goes for the third man who was not expected: the head of the chancellery Helge Braun, close to Angela Merkel, but little known to the general public.
Friedrich Merz is often presented as the favorite.
He is undoubtedly one of the oldest, the East Germans and those who are close to economic circles.
But many of the 400,000 CDU members are not politically active and a prognosis is difficult.
The three men will assert their profile until early December, date of the first round.
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To listen: Germany: Friedrich Merz, supporter of a return to a CDU more to the right
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Germany
Angela Merkel