Armin Lasht, Prime Minister of the Lower Rhine-Westphalia District, won a majority of the votes of the Christian Democrat party deputies • Declared a tougher line in the fight against Corona
Armin Lasht
Photography:
AFP
Armin Lasht, an associate of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will succeed the Chancellor as head of the Christian Democratic Party after winning a majority of the party's delegates' votes, which were held digitally this weekend.
Lasht, 59, the prime minister of the state-run province of Reyn-Westphalia, won the second round of voting in 521 votes out of 1001 delegates, compared to 466 for his main rival, Friedrich March, the more conservative current in the Christian Democratic Party.
There is still no certainty that Asht will be the Conservatives' candidate for chancellor in the next general election in September.
For there is a possibility that the Conservatives will decide to run the head of the Christian Social Party, the smaller party in the Conservative Union, Marcus Zoder, the prime minister of the Bavarian provincial government.
Zoder's popularity among the general population in Germany has increased in recent months due to his aggressive stance on the issue of dealing with the corona plague.
He supported the imposition of stricter restrictions than those supported by Chancellor Merkel, whose crisis was perceived as hesitant and slow.
The main challenge facing the Conservative Union in the run-up to the next election is to "bring home" conservative voters who have been disappointed over the years by Chancellor Merkel's policy and have turned to other right-wing parties such as the right-wing nationalist opposition party, the Alternative for Germany.
A March victory could have been a clear signal to these voters, who are not interested in the continuation of Merkel's loyalists in the Christian Democratic Party.
