Merkel’s party elects Laschet as her successor

ANGELA MERKEL’S party elected her centrist ally Armin Laschet as its new leader yesterday, putting him in pole position to succeed her as chancellor later this year.

The 59-year-old Mr Laschet openly pitched himself to the Christian Democrat party (CDU) as the continuity candidate to inherit Mrs Merkel’s mantle when she steps down at September’s elections after 15 years in power.

“We’ll only win if we stay strong in the middle of society,” Mr Laschet told party delegates in his final pitch for their votes. “We have to win, not because we want to win, but because we have to for our country, for our future.” His victory was a clear rejection of Friedrich Merz, his main rival, who campaigned on a pledge to reverse years of centrism under Mrs Merkel and take the party back to its conservative roots.

Mr Laschet chet prevailed easily, winning the votes of 521 party delegates to 466 for Mr Merz erz in the final round of voting. A third rd contender, Norbert Röttgen, was s eliminated in the first round. The vote was held online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The party arty will hope the result will finally ly put an end to years of division over its ideological direction. . For Mr Merz, the perennial ghost host at the CDU banquet, the dream of becoming chancellor lor is surely over after losing ing two leadership elections in three years. Mrs Merkel had made her preference clear in a speech to delegates on Friday evening, telling them she wanted a “team” to win – Mr Laschet was the only candidate with a running mate – and she lost los no time in congratulating him him, tweeting: “Congratulations o on your election, dear Armin. I look forward to working to together.” Mr Laschet is Mr Merz’s polar opposit opposite – and not only beca because he is short and j jovial where Mr Merz is tall and taciturn taciturn. While Mr Merz has been in the headline headlines throughout hi his s political career, M Mr Laschet is the quiet man who has repeatedly surprised his opponents.

He did it in 2012 when he unexpectedly led the CDU to victory in regional elections in the centre-Left stronghold of North Rhine-Westphalia, and will hope he can repeat the performance in September’s general election.

First, he will have to persuade the CDU to name him its candidate for chancellor in March – party leaders do not automatically get the role in Germany. Damaged by his handling of the pandemic – he was an early proponent of loosening lockdown only to see infections rise again – he will face competition from younger and more charismatic rivals.

Jens Spahn, the health minister, has been on manoeuvres to secure the chancellor candidacy for himself despite being Mr Laschet’s unofficial running mate in the leadership election.

However, Mr Spahn made a misstep yesterday when he used one of a limited number of chances to question the candidates to make his own speech – a stunt one observer dismissed as more worthy of a student election. Mr Spahn was duly punished by delegates, scraping in last in an election to choose five deputy party leaders.

Mr Laschet is also likely to face a challenge from Markus Söder, the leader of the CSU, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party. Considerably more polished and charismatic than his rivals, Mr Söder is seen by many as the man to beat.