The CDU Frankfurt has elected Uwe Becker to head its district association.

263 delegates appointed Becker as the new chairman of the CDU on Saturday at the district party conference in the Saalbau Zeilsheim, which took place in attendance.

This ended a week-long internal party competition between the former member of the Bundestag Bettina Wiesmann and the European Secretary of State Becker.

On Saturday, the entire party board will also be re-elected, including four deputies and a treasurer.

The former honorary chairman Udo Corts had drawn up a personnel tableau on the basis of a decision by the board of directors.

Martin Benninghoff

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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With the reorganization, the CDU wants to focus on the coming elections, above all the state elections in 2023. Last year, the CDU achieved disappointing results in local elections and federal elections in Frankfurt and lost both mandates and government responsibility in the Frankfurt magistrate.

Chairman Jan Schneider, who did not stand again in this election, announced his resignation in January after months of reflection in order to take political responsibility for the defeats.

Super election year cost money

In his farewell speech, Schneider tried to direct the gaze of the delegates and guests: “We have to close the ranks quickly.

We have to go on the offensive," said Schneider.

The state elections in Hesse in 2023 cast their shadows ahead.

"I think we all understand the chance we're getting." Some speakers thanked him for holding office, including Prime Minister-designate Boris Rhein, who chaired the party congress as a member of the Frankfurt district association.

"It's not an escape.

But taking on responsibility," commented the incumbent President of the State Parliament on Schneider's resignation, who had led the district association since 2017.

At that time, Schneider had taken over the chairmanship from Uwe Becker.

In several contributions to the debate, the delegates in Zeilsheim addressed the coming to terms with past election defeats.

The honorary chairman Udo Corts, who headed the selection committee for the search for candidates, said that the CDU in Frankfurt had - figuratively speaking - "a bad cold" and was currently unable to campaign.

However, he then also reacted to criticism from his own ranks of the procedure, which some had criticized as not being transparent enough. "I would have liked this criticism to be open-minded," said the former Frankfurt CDU leader.

"I hope for the future of this party that this remains an exception."

The report on finances also received greater attention.

The district treasurer Claudia Korenke, who was supposed to hand over her post to the entrepreneur Stefan Knoll, gave an insight into the difficult financial situation of the district association.

The income from contributions from elected officials has therefore fallen from almost 212,000 euros in 2020 to 163,000 euros in the following year.

The reason for this is the lost mandates of the two former members of the Bundestag Wiesmann and Matthias Zimmer, who was also there as a guest on Saturday, as well as other veterans such as the former Federal Research Minister Heinz Riesenhuber.

For the super election year 2021, the party posted a deficit of 237,000 euros, as expenditure due to the election campaigns this year had risen to more than 900,000 euros.