Armin Laschet becomes Angela M …

The Governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, has been selected as candidate of the conservative bloc. Laschet, 60, is the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Angela Merkel’s party. Until yesterday, his main rival in the bloc was Markus Soeder, head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU). and the governor of Bavaria, who recently retired from the race and decided to submit to the vote of the CDU Federal Council.

The secret ballot of the Union bloc – name adopted by the CDU / CSU Coalition – cast preference towards the figure of Laschet, who obtained the vote of 31 members against nine votes in favor of Soeder and six abstentions. The governor of Bavaria, Germany’s richest state, pledged to abide by the decision of the CDU, which is represented in 15 German states. “We will support him with all our might and without resentment. “Soeder once said the news was out. “We do not want a division, but a total unity”, added the governor.

The leaders of the CDU and CSU had declared their interest in succeeding Chancellor Merkel, who will step down after 16 years in power. The competition between the two was in effect until a few weeks ago when some German media such as The mirror they highlighted the existing division within the right wing alliance.

The Union bloc is running jointly in the federal elections. Currently, the coalition is leading the polls, followed by green environmentalists, who appointed Annalena Baerbock as his first candidate for chancellor. While the Social Democrats (SPD) appointed Olaf Scholz, current Minister of Finance.

Armin Laschet He is Catholic, the son of a minor and originally from Aix-la-Chapelle, a town on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. He was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2005. Since 2017 he has been Governor of North Rhine-Westphalia and in January 2021 he became the head of the CDU.

After being elected candidate for the Union bloc, Laschet ruled out any form of political cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). “With the AfD, there will be no negotiations, no cooperation, no coalition”Laschet assured. In addition, the CDU has a clause which does not admit the possibility of political collaboration with the far right party.

Governor of North Rhine-Westphalia supported Merkel in opening the borders during the most tense moments of the 2015 refugee crisis, although During the pandemic, Soeder was most aligned with Merkel on restrictions while in detention. The Bavarian was a favorite in states where the far right is particularly strong. According to the German channel Deutsche Welle, Soeder is more popular for maintaining rigorous management of the fight against the pandemic, in the tradition of the current Chancellor, while Laschet has a more centrist profile. Merkel, in power since 2005, has not commented on the Conservative candidacy. The participants in the videoconference during which Laschet was elected, assured that the Chancellor remained on the sidelines of the discussions.