Friedrich Merz is elected CDU leader with 94.6 percent of the votes

Friedrich Merz is elected CDU leader with 94.6 percent of the votes

As expected, the delegates at the CDU online party conference elected Friedrich Merz as the new party leader of the CDU. The 66-year-old received almost 95 percent of the votes. Secretary General will be Mario Czaja.

As expected, the 1001 delegates connected to the CDU online party conference elected Friedrich Merz as the new party leader of the CDU. 915 of 983 delegates voted for the 66-year-old, 16 abstained. The CDU calculated an approval of 94.62 percent. The decision has yet to be formally confirmed by postal vote. Their result is to be announced on January 31st.

“I am deeply moved and impressed by this election result,” said Merz, who had twice tried to become party leader. He spoke of a “great mandate” to tackle the new task.

Third CDU chairman within three years

Merz’s election was already considered certain in advance, after he had been determined in December in the first member survey in the history of the CDU on party chairmanship with 62.1 percent to succeed Armin Laschet, who failed as a candidate for chancellor. However, the latter will formally remain in office until the end of January. For legal reasons, the delegates must confirm the election at the virtual party congress in writing. Merz will only officially become party leader after the postal vote has been counted on January 31.

The 66 year old becomes the third CDU chairman within a good three years after the then Chancellor Angela Merkel retired from the party chairmanship in 2018 after 18 years. In two previous attempts at the presidency, the economic expert lost to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in December 2018 and to Laschet in January 2021.

Friedrich Merz calls on the Union to unite

In his speech at the party conference, the designated CDU chairman called on his party to unite and to make a powerful move in the opposition after the disaster in the federal elections. The party conference sent a “powerful signal of departure and renewal of the CDU,” said Merz on Saturday in Berlin.

He also sharply attacked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), accusing him of being passive on important issues. Scholz wants general corona vaccination, but refuses to submit a government draft to the Bundestag, Merz said in his application speech for the presidency at the digital party conference on Saturday in Berlin. Many have financial fears because of high inflation and high energy prices, but get no answer.

The world is worried about peace in Europe, said Merz, with a view to the current tensions with Russia. “You haven’t been to Washington or Moscow so far,” he criticized Scholz. In this situation, previous chancellors had shown leadership and taken initiatives.

Merz also criticized the government course in the planned conversion to more climate protection, in which industrial jobs would have to be preserved. However, the traffic light coalition showed “faith in the state” and a “spending spree”. Answers to major questions such as securing pensions for today’s younger generation are also needed.

AfD politician Alice Weidel

Mario Czaja becomes the new CDU general secretary

Mario Czaja won the election as CDU General Secretary with almost 93 percent. The 46-year-old former Berlin Senator for Social Affairs follows Paul Ziemiak. Czaja accounted for 875 of 964 votes cast in the digital vote, 22 delegates abstained. The CDU rated 942 votes as valid. This vote must also be formally confirmed by postal vote.

The future CDU boss Friedrich Merz had previously advertised for the former Berlin Senator for Social Affairs. Czaja is “a big city kid” from the eastern part of Berlin and has now won a constituency that the Left Party had previously held for 30 years.

In his application speech, Czaja emphasized social issues such as pensions, child poverty, housing shortages and health care in rural areas. “We have to realign ourselves,” he said, referring to the defeat in the federal election.

Source From: Stern

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