Union faction leader Brinkhaus wants to have a say in the nomination of the candidate for chancellor

Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus: "The joint parliamentary group is the bridge between CDU and CSU"

Photo: Tom Weller / dpa

The SPD announced its candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz months ago.

In the Union it is still unclear who will run for the Chancellery in the Bundestag elections in September.

Now Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) has commented on it.

He wants to have a say in the nomination of the CDU / CSU's candidate for chancellor.

"I assume that the party leaders will involve the parliamentary group in this process," Brinkhaus told the Handelsblatt.

"Because the joint parliamentary group is the bridge between the CDU and CSU," he emphasized.

On Friday afternoon, the CDU announced the result of the postal vote, through which the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister, Armin Laschet, who was elected party leader last weekend, is to be officially confirmed in office.

Laschet, like CSU boss Markus Söder, is a candidate for the candidacy for chancellor.

Laschet had prevailed against the representative of the right wing of the party, Friedrich Merz, at the CDU party congress.

Regarding the future role of the loser, Brinkhaus said: "The party chairman decides whether he will be part of the campaign team." But Brinkhaus again refused to change course by the CDU, as requested from the Merz camp.

CDU Vice Thomas Strobl, who had supported Merz before the party congress, now called for the cohesion of the party under the leadership of Laschet.

"He knows how to win elections," Strobl told the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND).

The chairman of the Union's SME parliamentary group, Christian von Stetten, urged Merz to play a key role in the upcoming federal election campaign.

"If Merz is not involved in the foreground, we are not talking about hundreds of withdrawals, but of thousands," warned the CDU politician in the "Wirtschaftswoche" of a crucial test for the party.

In a survey by the Kantar Institute for the Funke media group, 43 percent of those questioned said with a view to the Union's candidacy for chancellor, in their view Söder had the best chances in the federal election in September.

According to this, 21 percent see the best prospects with Laschet, and seven percent for a candidacy from Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).

Among the Union supporters, Söder was 65 percent to 20 percent ahead of Laschet.

Kantar interviewed 1,017 citizens for the survey on Monday and Tuesday.

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