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Ahead of the election: The ruling party in Germany has chosen a possible successor to Merkel
Armin Lasht, the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, will try to unite the ranks among Christian Democrats who are struggling to find a replacement for the chancellor.
Merkel will end her role this year after 15 years, and the Conservatives may form a coalition with the Greens who come in second in the polls
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Germany
Angela Merkel
Reuters
Saturday, January 16, 2021, 6:14 p.m.
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In the video: The ruling party in Germany has chosen Armin Lasht as the new chairman (Photo: Reuters)
The ruling Christian Democratic Party in Germany today (Saturday) elected Armin Lasht, the prime minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as its new leader.
Lasht, who heads Germany's most populous district in the Netherlands, is on the verge of succeeding Chancellor Angela Merkel and is set to mend rifts in the party.
Lasht, from the mainstream of the party, defeated the conservative candidate Frederick March in the ballot among the party's deputies.
Merkel, Europe's biggest economic leader since 2005, will not run in the September elections and the party is struggling to find a successor since retiring in December 2018.
He is considered to have a style similar to Merkel's, and a more comfortable partner in the Left-leaning Green Party. .
Both parties are likely to form a coalition after the September elections.
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Will he succeed in uniting the party?
Lasht (Photo: Reuters)
However, the close result in which he defeated March - 521 votes to 466 - shows the challenges facing Asht in the Conservative bloc union, which despite Merkel's four consecutive victories in the federal election, has never been completely comfortable with Merkel's center positions.
In his victory speech, Lasht called on Democratic forces to cooperate against the wave of extremism that is sweeping Western countries along with the corona plague.
"Especially these days that we are experiencing in the world, the phrase 'unity, justice and liberty' is more relevant than ever," Asht quoted the first line of the German anthem.
"Let us fight together for these principles against anyone who wants to endanger them."
Some factions in the ruling party accuse Merkel of leaving a vacuum to the far-right wing of the party in favor of the far-right alternative to Germany - and more recently to supporters of conspiracy theories that cast doubt on the plague - thus undermining Germany's democratic order.
Merkel said last year that the 59-year-old Lasht has the "tools" to run for chancellor, expressing the closest support to anyone she has given to date.
However, this does not guarantee that the party will indeed elect its new chairman as the candidate.
Defense Secretary Angert Kramp-Kernbauer, who replaced Merkel in the party leadership and was considered her successor, found it difficult to hold office and announced last year that she would resign.
Her 15 years in office will end this year.
Merkel, this month (Photo: AP, AP)
Among the possible alternatives to Lasht are Health Minister Jens Schpan, who has been credited with Germany's successful response to the Corona crisis, at least in the first wave, and Marcus Zoder, Bavaria's popular prime minister and CSU leader, the CDU's sister party in the province.
"I keep hearing that you must know to divide. I say: no, you do not have to," Lasht told an empty conference hall, from which Congress was broadcast live to deputies due to corona restrictions.
"You have to control the tools of the political center, the ability to unite."
Zoder, who said he expects to work with Lasht, wants the party to select its candidate for the federal election after the mid-March district election, so he leaves the possibility he will run if good results are not achieved.
The Minister of Finance, Olaf Schultz, wished him success.
"This year will be challenging for all of us," tweeted Schultz, who is the Social Democrats' candidate in the election.
The party is a partner in Merkel's current coalition.
The leadership of the Green Party said that Lasht should redefine the policy of the Conservative Party which will include modernization of inclusion in the environmentally friendly way.
According to opinion polls, Merkel's Conservative bloc has 36% support, followed by the Conservatives with about 20% and the Social Democrats with 16%.
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