LAST UPDATE: 15.25
Friedrich Mertz has been elected the new leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the main opposition party in Germany, following the resignation of Armin Lasset.
Mertz is considered the “right” of the CDU leaders to date, is very popular with party members and has pledged to take a “conservative turn” against the center-line that the party followed during the 16-year rule of the country under Angela Merkel.
His opponents, Norbert Retgen and Helge Brown, were portrayed as the most “orthodox” followers of the former German chancellor.
The 66-year-old German politician won his election after two failed attempts to become the leader of the CDU, receiving 62.1% of the party members.
A lawyer from West Germany, he was a prominent CDU executive and MP in the early 2000s, before retiring from politics and pursuing a career as a Black Rock asset manager. He was re-elected Member of Parliament in 2021.
Mr Mertz, who is considered politically “close” to former Bundestag (lower house of parliament) President Wolfgang Schieble, is the third Christian Democrat leader since Angela Merkel stepped down three years ago.
Annegret Krabs-Karenbauer and Armin Lasset, who led the CDU-CSU (Christian Democrats-Christian Socialists) coalition to run for a second term in the by-elections in the September 20 by-elections. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) of the current German Chancellor Olaf Solz.
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Source From: Capital
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