“Now is the time for members,” said General Secretary Paul Ziemiak. For for the first time in its history, the CDU is making the election of its future chairman dependent on a member survey. The new party leader will be officially elected at a party congress on January 21st and 22nd.
Around five weeks after the heavy defeat in the German federal election, the CDU leadership initiated the personnel realignment yesterday. In a special meeting it was agreed that the successor of Armin Laschet should be determined by the broad base.
The schedule is now set: the nomination phase, in which the candidates are nominated, runs from November 6th to 17th. This is followed by the introductory phase from November 18 to December 2. By the beginning of December, the ballot papers will then be sent to the approximately 400,000 CDU members. From 3rd / 4th December the voting takes place – either via online voting or by postal vote. The result will be announced on December 17th. If nobody gets an absolute majority, there will be a runoff election until January 14th.
The personnel realignment will therefore drag on much longer than many in the party would like. Several CDU politicians had expressed the wish to clarify the leadership issue this year. According to the party headquarters, the time was too short for this.
So far, no leading CDU politician has registered for candidacy. The former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz, the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen and the executive health minister Jens Spahn are said to have ambitions for the CDU party chairmanship. The economic politician Carsten Linnemann and Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus are also in discussion. The deputy party chairwoman Julia Klöckner sees the member survey as an opportunity. The CDU is on the way to distinguishing itself as a “modern party” and a “grassroots party”. After 16 years of government it is clear that “there is now a turning point”.
Source From: Nachrichten
