The new leadership of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) will be officially elected at a congress to be held on January 21 and 22, 2022 in Hanover, which, however, will have previously emerged from a vote of the party members in December.
According to information from the n-tv news station, the decision to participate – for the first time in the party’s history – of the 400,000 members of the CDU in the election of the leader was taken earlier today unanimously by the Executive Council. The party’s statute stipulates that a leader is elected at a congress, so that the 1001 delegates are committed to ratify and formally the result that will have emerged from the vote of the members.
As announced a few hours ago, the outgoing CDU leader Armin Lasset and the general secretary of the party Paul Tsimiak, the members will receive a letter with the instructions until December 3-4 and then they will vote by letter by the middle of the month. The – non-binding – result will be announced on December 17, but it will be ratified on January 21 and 22, at the conference.
Many of the CDU executives had expressed their desire for the new leadership to emerge sooner, possibly within a year. However, the Bureau, according to the report of the first channel of the German public television ARD, estimated that there would not be enough time for the presentation of the candidates to the voters. Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans, who is facing state elections in March, believes the process will be long overdue. In the same vein, the new Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Vust stressed the need to clarify the situation as soon as possible, as elections are being held in his state in May, while the election of a new leadership by Christmas was demanded by the head of the local organization. CDU in Hamburg, Christoph Plos.
Nominations will be available from next Saturday and so far no one has expressed a desire to run for office. In the party circles, however, it is considered certain that among the contenders will be the two “losers” by Armin Lassett, Friedrich Mertz and Norbert Retgen.
According to a poll conducted by the Forsa Institute on behalf of the n-tv and RTL networks, Mr. Mertz is considered the most suitable for the leadership of the CDU by 19% of the citizens, while 11% are in favor of Mr. Retgen. 10% would prefer Health Minister Jens Spann, 9% parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and 6% Economy Minister Carsten Linemann. 39% of respondents, however, state “nobody / I do not know”. Among those who say they are on the “right” of the political spectrum, however, Mr. Mertz secures 43% support.
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