The Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein has been elected the new CDU state chairman.

At the state party conference of the CDU in Rotenburg an der Fulda on Saturday, 97.96 percent of the delegates voted for the 50-year-old politician.

Rhein thus succeeded the former Prime Minister Volker Bouffier, who had not taken office after twelve years.

The 70-year-old Bouffier announced his retirement in February.

At the end of May he resigned as prime minister.

The state parliament in Wiesbaden then chose Rhein as his successor.

Merz recalled old electoral successes

The CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz had called on the Hessian CDU before the election of Rhein to have the courage to engage in political disputes.

He recalled the success of the Christian Democrats in the 1999 state elections in Hesse.

At that time, the CDU's top candidate, Roland Koch, made a name for himself with a signature campaign against dual citizenship.

The main reason for the 1999 election success was that the Hessian CDU had the courage to engage in a controversial political discussion with the state and federal governments about dual citizenship, explained Merz.

The CDU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag welcomed the Hessian Prime Minister Rhein to the ranks of younger prime ministers.

He also thanked the former Prime Minister of Hesse, Bouffier, for his political work.

"We always agreed in the past, (...) not always in the last three years, but now again," said Merz.