Berlin:Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right party on Saturday chose Armin Laschet, the pragmatic governor of Germany’s most populous state, as its new leader — sending a signal of continuity months before an election in which voters will decide who becomes the new chancellor.
Apart from Laschet and Friedrich Merz, a third candidate, prominent lawmaker Norbert Roettgen also participated in the race but was eliminated in the first round of voting.
Saturday’s vote isn’t the final word on who will run as the centre-right candidate for chancellor in Germany’s Sept. 26 election, but Laschet will either run for chancellor or will have a big say in who does.
Merkel, who has been chancellor since 2005, announced in late 2018 that she wouldn’t seek a fifth term. She also stepped down from the CDU leadership.
The decision ends an 11-month leadership limbo in Germany’s strongest party after outgoing leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had failed to impose her authority on the party, announced her resignation. A vote on her successor was delayed twice because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There had been no clear favourite going into Saturday’s convention, but the election of Merz would have marked at least a symbolic break with the Merkel era. Laschet will now have to work to secure party unity.
Laschet, 59, was elected in 2017 as governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, a traditional centre-left stronghold. He governs the region in a coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats, the CDU’s traditional ally on the right, but would likely be able to work fairly smoothly with a more liberal partner. Current polls point to the environmentalist Greens as a possible key to power in the election.
Read:|German Chancellor Merkel’s party to pick new leader
Laschet pointed Saturday to the value of continuity and moderation and cited the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump as an example of where deliberate polarization can lead.
“Trust is what keeps us going and what has been broken in America,” he told delegates before the vote. “By polarizing, sowing discord and distrust, and systematically lying, a president has destroyed stability and trust.”
“We must speak clearly but not polarize,” Laschet said. “We must be able to integrate, hold society together.”