The official election of Friedrich Mertz as leader of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) is the main topic of the party congress to be held today.
Mr Mertz has already won 61.2% of the vote among members and is awaiting formal confirmation of his victory from the 1,001 delegates.
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the CDU congress will be held digitally again and the delegates’ letter vote will be needed again. The result of the vote is expected to be announced on January 31.
Friedrich Mertz, 66, has invited all the living leaders of the CDU to dinner for tomorrow night, in an effort to promote continuity and unity in the party.
Armin Lassett and Wolfgang Schieble have accepted the invitation, while Angela Merkel and Annegret Krab-Karenbauer declined it, citing a “busy schedule” the first and “personal reasons” the second.
Mr. Mertz’s relationship with Angela Merkel has long been strained, as it was the one that had prevailed in the internal party dispute to later become Chancellor, while Mrs. Krabb-Karenbauer lost the battle for the party leadership in 2018.
Recently, the newly elected leader of the party admitted that he “underestimated” Mrs. Merkel until she became Chancellor.
Angela Merkel also rejected the proposal of the outgoing president of the CDU to become honorary president of the party, noting that this is a “practice of the past”.
The last honorary president of the CDU was Helmut Kohl, who, however, had resigned from the honorary position in 2000, when the scandal with the donations to the party broke out.
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