95 percent agreement
Postal voting confirms Merz as CDU chairman
01/31/2022 2:51 p.m
After three candidatures, Friedrich Merz has finally reached his goal: the CDU elects him by letter to be its chairman with an overwhelming majority. In his subsequent speech, he speaks of the self-confidence in the opposition. He also addresses the fatal attack on two police officers in the western Palatinate.
Friedrich Merz is now officially the new CDU chairman. According to CDU information, the 66-year-old economic politician received 95.33 percent of the votes in the postal vote on Monday. This written vote was necessary for legal reasons after the online party conference on January 22nd. There Merz had come to 94.62 percent according to the CDU calculation. The 1001 delegates of the online party congress were entitled to vote in the postal vote
As a consequence of the historically worst Union result of 24.1 percent in the federal election last September, the CDU had re-elected its entire leadership. In December, in the first member survey of the CDU for the party chairmanship, Merz was chosen with 62.1 percent as the successor to Armin Laschet, who had failed as a candidate for chancellor.
Merz now has the major task of rebuilding and reorganizing the CDU after losing the chancellorship after 16 years. In his party speech on Saturday a week ago, Merz made it clear what is important to him: the CDU must have the aspiration to “be able to be the government of tomorrow”. At the same time, he called for fair internal dealings with each other.
Merz lost election 2020 against Laschet
Merz also sounded optimistic in his acceptance speech after the election. Although he is taking over the CDU “at a difficult time”, the party has “not lost its self-confidence”. She also bears civic responsibility in the opposition, which Merz sees as an opportunity. He pointed out that the Union also has government responsibility in many federal states.
Addressing the prime ministers of his party, Merz said: “We will give all the support we can from here. But you have to contest the election campaigns.” At the beginning of his speech, Merz expressed his condolences to the families of the two police officers who were shot by unknown persons in the western Palatinate. “My joy today is marred and saddened by the news of the deaths of two young police officers,” he said. “I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt condolences and sympathy to families.”
Merz had applied a total of three times for the position of CDU chairman. Merz was already convinced when he ran for the presidency that the CDU members and, in fact, the entire population would have preferred him as party leader. In 2020 he even spoke of an intrigue by the “CDU establishment” against him, although he was so far ahead in the polls. When Armin Laschet then won the presidential election, Merz undeterred – and unsuccessfully – recommended himself as Federal Minister of Economics.
He was at odds with Merkel
It is actions like these that reinforce the critics in their image of Merz: always looking for their own advantage, only winning in mind, boundlessly convinced of themselves. Merz’ supporters, on the other hand, see him as a self-confident character who dares to offend.
The Sauerland knows the game with provocative statements well. In 2020, for example, he caused a stir with the thesis that many Germans could get used to “life without work” in the Corona crisis. He also moved homosexuality close to pedophilia.
In his long political career, the lawyer has learned extensively how to deal with the controversy. From 1989 to 1994 he sat in the European Parliament, then in the Bundestag. From 2000 he was chairman of the Union faction until the then CDU chairwoman Merkel ousted him from the post in 2002. From then on both were in a clinch; In 2009, the Sauerland disillusioned himself withdrew from active politics.