The CDU parliamentary group leader in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, Christian Baldauf, was elected the new state leader of the party on Saturday.
At a party conference in Wittlich, 271 of 324 delegates voted for the 54-year-old politician from Frankenthal in the Palatinate.
49 voted against him, 4 delegates abstained.
The party put the approval rate at 84.7 percent, including abstentions at 83.6 percent.
He accepts the election and looks forward to the task, said Baldauf.
He knows that he "has to convince the 49" who voted against him, he added.
Baldauf is the successor to Julia Klöckner (49), who took over the party leadership from him in 2010.
Klöckner had declared last fall that she would no longer compete.
At the party conference, she described the past year with the worst results to date in a state election and a federal election as a low blow for the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate.
Now is the time to “keep your roots, but to put yourself to the test”.
Above all, the processes in the party would have to be examined.