CDU party congress elects Czaja as future general secretary
Created: 01/22/2022, 13:16
Paul Ziemiak (r), CDU General Secretary, congratulates Mario Czaja (l).
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The CDU party congress has elected Bundestag member Mario Czaja as the future general secretary.
The 46-year-old Berliner received 875 of 964 votes cast in a digital vote on Saturday, 22 delegates abstained.
The CDU thus assessed 942 votes as valid and calculated an approval rate of 92.89 percent.
The vote must be formally confirmed by postal vote.
Berlin – Their result is to be announced on January 31st.
The future CDU boss Friedrich Merz had previously advertised for the former Berlin Senator for Social Affairs.
Czaja is "a big city kid" from the eastern part of Berlin and has now won a constituency that the Left Party had previously held for 30 years.
In his application speech, Czaja emphasized social issues such as pensions, child poverty, housing shortages and health care in rural areas.
"We have to realign ourselves," he said, referring to the defeat in the federal election.
The aim is to “fill in the gaps that exist”.
You have to work through the past, but then also put a point behind it.
Czaja announced new digital tools to engage grassroots members.
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For formal reasons, Christina Stumpp, a member of the Bundestag presented by Merz as the future Deputy Secretary General, can only be elected at a later party conference.
dpa