Lechner the only candidate for the CDU state presidency

Created: 2022-11-04Updated: 2022-11-04 7:19 PM

Sebastian Lechner (CDU), new state chairman of the CDU, gives an interview.

© Swen Pförtner/dpa/archive image

The personnel reorganization of the CDU after the election defeat in Lower Saxony is becoming more concrete.

There is likely to be only one candidate for the state presidency.

A theoretical possibility for further applicants remains.

Walsrode - Lower Saxony's CDU general secretary Sebastian Lechner is expected to be the only candidate for the state chairmanship of the party.

In addition to Lechner, no other candidates have stood for election so far, as the party announced on Friday after deliberations by the state executive in Walsrode.

State or district associations had until Friday afternoon to nominate their candidates for the state presidency.

The CDU district of Hanover unanimously nominated Lechner on Wednesday evening.

The 41-year-old has already become the new group leader.

Theoretically, there could be other candidates for the state presidency at the state party conference on January 21, but this is considered extremely unlikely.

The members of the Bundestag Hendrik Hoppenstedt and Gitta Connemann were said to have a possible interest in the state presidency.

In the state elections on October 9, the CDU had its worst result in Lower Saxony since the 1950s.

Lead candidate Bernd Althusmann immediately announced that he would step down from the state presidency.

However, as General Secretary, Lechner shared responsibility for the unsuccessful election campaign.

In the weeks leading up to the election, the CDU concentrated primarily on attacks on the federal government, which pushed its own content into the background.

In a state committee, the CDU wanted to work through the election defeat on Friday evening.

A few days ago, Lechner admitted his own mistakes with regard to the state elections.

But he rarely makes mistakes twice.

He is an experienced state politician, knows the party very well and knows what reforms are needed to be “campaignable” for the state elections in 2027.

Lechner told the dpa on Friday evening that he wanted to spend a lot of time with the CDU associations in Lower Saxony in the weeks leading up to the state party conference and discuss how member participation could be improved and what the party's content could look like.

He named the energy price crisis, the provision of lessons and the accommodation of refugees as important topics.

Althusmann said in a statement: "The CDU in Lower Saxony is accepting the new role as opposition.

It makes sense to put the two important offices, the parliamentary group and the state presidency, in one hand.”

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Lechner has been a member of the state parliament since 2013.

From 2008 to 2014 he was state chairman of the Junge Union in Lower Saxony.

He has been Secretary General of the national association since the beginning of 2021.

Lechner is married and has three children.

dpa