Baldauf announces withdrawal two days before Christmas Eve

Created: 2022-12-22Updated: 2022-12-22, 2:34 p.m

Christian Baldauf (CDU) speaks before the election at the state party conference in Wittlich.

© Harald Tittel/dpa/archive image

As leader of the opposition, Christian Baldauf is one of the central voices in the Mainz state parliament and Prime Minister Dreyer's main opponent.

Now he is surprisingly giving up the chairmanship of the parliamentary group - about a year after his election as party leader.

Mainz – Opposition leader Christian Baldauf surprisingly resigns his position as CDU parliamentary group leader in Rhineland-Palatinate at the end of March 2023.

"It is now time to initiate the transition in the parliamentary group," the 55-year-old explained his decision on Thursday in Mainz.

At a closed conference in early January, the CDU will set the course for future group work in terms of content and personnel.

The CDU faction leader only took over the presidency of the state party from Julia Klöckner in March of this year.

In the CDU, the separation of the two offices was considered one of the reasons for the 2021 election defeat.

“In March, two years have passed since the last state election.

At that time, we started the legislative period with a new, partly young parliamentary group," Baldauf said.

“It was important to me to initially accompany the team as an experienced leader of the opposition.

In the meantime we have grown together as a team.”

Baldauf had announced the decision on Wednesday evening at a special meeting.

Officially, he announced it in writing early Thursday afternoon.

Neither Baldauf nor the parliamentary group commented on a possible successor.

In political Mainz, General Secretary Gordon Schnieder (47) was the most likely to be traded as a possible successor, but so was the parliamentary group's spokesman for economic policy, Helmut Martin (59).

Many political observers were surprised by the timing of Baldauf's announcement - a few days before Christmas.

Political opponents scoffed at a "Christmas putsch"

"The timing is surprising in that the CDU has overtaken the SPD in the country in the most recent polls," said the parliamentary group leader of the Free Voters, Joachim Streit.

"The CDU now has the task of filling the gap left by an experienced state politician.

The question is: will the CDU now manage the generational change or will there be a long-serving interim solution?”

With the expiry of Baldauf's resignation, the CDU is, according to SPD parliamentary group leader Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler, "again giving a picture of a parliamentary group without cohesion and a planned approach".

"The fact that parts of the parliamentary group apparently announced the end of their term of office to the press behind the parliamentary group leader's back shows how little cohesive, structured and respectful the largest opposition faction acts internally - and contradicts Baldauf's statement that one is "as a team grown together."

In parts of the CDU base, Baldauf is considered too pale in his role as leader of the opposition, the party said.

"Everyone appreciates him, but not everyone trusts him to win the election." If someone wants to make themselves known as a top candidate, then now - the next state parliament is expected to be elected in spring 2026.

But there was also a lot of praise for Baldauf because he cleared the way, always stood up protectively in front of the party and allowed himself to be applauded.

According to the AfD parliamentary group, Baldauf has "recognized the signs of the times and drawn the appropriate conclusions" with his withdrawal.

Group leader Michael Frisch said: "Now it is up to the CDU group to leave the Merkel era behind."

The Frankenthal-born politician, lawyer and father of two took over the office of CDU parliamentary group leader from Julia Klöckner in 2018, around four years before she became party leader.

From 2006 to 2011 he was the group leader.

Baldauf has also been a member of the CDU federal executive board since 2006.

According to his own statements, Helmut Kohl's policies brought him to the Union in 1983.

In 2021 he ran against Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) in the state elections and lost - like Klöckner before him in the 2016 state election. With a view to the 2011 election, Baldauf, as then head of state in 2010, gave up the chair of the party in favor of Klöckner.

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In the election in March 2021, Baldauf and the CDU only got 27.7 percent of the votes, well behind Dreyer's SPD with 35.7 percent.

It was the seventh defeat in a state election in Rhineland-Palatinate for the CDU and the worst result ever.

After this election, Baldauf was nevertheless confirmed as chairman by the new parliamentary group.

"The path that lies ahead of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate is uncomfortable, it's hard, it will also be painful," Baldauf said after his election to the party leadership in March 2022 - and announced a comprehensive modernization.

dpa