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CDU politician Friedrich Merz: All good things come in threes:
Photo: via www.imago-images.de / imago images / Political-Moments
He lost twice in recent years, now he dares the third attempt: Friedrich Merz is running for the third time in a row for the CDU chairmanship.
The board of his CDU district association Hochsauerland nominated the 66-year-old on Monday evening in a digital session for the upcoming member survey on the future party chairman, as the German press agency learned from party circles.
In addition to the CDU external expert Norbert Röttgen and the executive head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, there are three prominent applicants to succeed Armin Laschet.
Merz is already making the third attempt at the office of party leader after the now only executive Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her withdrawal from the chair in 2018.
Merz explained his candidacy at the meeting, according to a press release. He was quoted as saying: "I would like to thank the members of my district executive for the nomination and apply again for the office of chairman of the CDU in Germany." have encouraged this candidacy «. On this Tuesday afternoon he will "introduce my part of the new CDU leadership team that is applying with me in Berlin," said Merz.
CDU district leader Matthias Kerkhoff said: “We are fully convinced that we support this application and we will support Friedrich Merz on his way. He can rely on his CDU in the Hochsauerlandkreis. «Merz is already approaching the office of party leader for the third time after the now only executive Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her withdrawal from the chair in 2018.
The application deadline for additional chairperson candidates is 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Until then, proposals must be submitted in writing to the CDU federal office. Then there should be a timetable for the phase of introducing the applicants. The federal executive decided at the beginning of November that possible candidates should present themselves on the CDU homepage for the member survey starting on December 4th. There should be a uniform format with a photo and a short résumé.
In the case of various digital formats, members should also be given the opportunity to ask questions and participate. The district associations were asked to accompany the offers with events on site. Since no formal decision on the chairman can be made through a member survey, the CDU leadership decided that the candidate should be proposed to the party congress by the board of directors with an absolute majority. The new chairman is then to be elected on January 21 by the 1001 delegates at a party congress in Hanover.
In the CDU, the discussion about more women in the party leadership continued. The deputy CDU chairman Silvia Breher told the news portal “watson”: “We should now wait and see whether a woman applies for the chairmanship. The general rule is that more women belong in the party leadership and there are many great colleagues who have to be made visible. «It is important that not only the party chairmanship is replaced. "We did that last time, and it's not enough." When asked why she wasn't running herself, the woman from Lower Saxony said: "I'm the mother of three children, and they have a right to see me."
The North Rhine-Westphalian CDU member of the Bundestag, Serap Güler, said "watson" when discussing the fact that there have only been male candidates so far: "We now had Angela Merkel for 18 years and then Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer at the head of our party for three years.
Armin Laschet has only been a man in this position for ten months. "
mrc / muk / dpa
