With subtle pride, Armin Laschet points out that the current procedure for finding a new CDU chairman has been more orderly than the last two times. And then he has a hint for his colleague Markus Söder and his “free south”.
After the vote of the district chairman’s conference last Saturday, the CDU federal executive board decided that the party base should determine the new chairman. The incumbent CDU boss Armin Laschet and General Secretary Paul Ziemiak announced after a meeting of the committee. According to a general assessment, this increases the chances for the Bundestag member Friedrich Merz to become CDU chairman at the third attempt.
Laschet made it clear that the membership decision should remain an exception. “As the CDU, we are of the opinion that representative democracy is the best means of bringing about political decisions. But in the phase in which the CDU is at the moment, it is good to include the members, including the grassroots.”
The CDU will therefore not change its statutes, which would make the member’s decision legally binding, but “do it once so that we ask the members how the reorganization should now take place”. Officially, a party congress therefore has to elect the chairman who has been found in this way in January. In fact, this will only be a confirmation.
Everything is decided at the end of January
The federal executive board unanimously approved this procedure “after a long, intensive discussion”, said Laschet. “I think this is a good way to get the CDU to restart.” Ziemiak explained that there are three stages to the process:
- The will start next Saturday “Nomination phase”which should last until November 17th. Theoretically, it would be possible for applicants to throw their hat into the ring beforehand. Laschet made it clear, however, that this would be considered a rule violation.
- The will follow from December 18th to 2nd “Introductory phase”, in which the candidates have the opportunity to present themselves and their plans to the party base. There should be digital formats for this, but also events in district associations.
- the “Voting phase” finally goes from 3./4. December to January 14th. First, the ballot papers are sent out, then on December 17th, the number is counted and the result is announced. If there are more than two candidates and none of the applicants receives an absolute majority, then on 28/29. December a second ballot. The counting and announcement of the results would take place on January 14th.
On January 21st and 22nd, a party congress in Hanover is to confirm the result of the member survey. With a view to the increasing number of corona infections, Laschet said when asked that it was not possible to say today whether a presence party conference would then be possible. However, the CDU is also prepared for a digital solution.
Laschet is still trying to find a team solution until Saturday
Laschet emphasized that his goal was “to achieve an orderly process”. In 2018 and 2020, the first applications were already received at the respective committee meeting in which the party chairmen at the time announced their withdrawal. That was Angela Merkel in 2018 and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in 2020. This time it was different. Talks would be held until Saturday, ie until the start of the nomination phase, “in order to reach a consensual settlement”.
However, Laschet also strives to go into the voting phase with as few candidatures as possible in order to avoid the signal of a split in the CDU. That would mean that some of the candidates traded so far will withdraw their interest. So far, as far as is known, this has not been successful. In addition to Merz, the CDU foreign expert Norbert Röttgen and Health Minister Jens Spahn are said to have increased interest in the CDU chairmanship. In previous attempts, both failed in the first ballot: Spahn 2018 at the party congress in Hamburg, Röttgen in January at a digital party convention. Other possible candidates are Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and the head of the CDU / CSU SME Association, Carsten Linnemann.
If there is a “consensual solution”, the federal executive board must decide whether a member survey is still necessary, said Laschet. “From my point of view it makes less sense,” he added. He cannot estimate how great the chances of a team solution are. “I don’t think it’s impossible, but I wouldn’t venture a forecast today.”
Laschet was also asked how the CDU wanted to find unity under the new chairman, where this had not worked twice – neither after the election of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer nor after the digital party congress in January where Laschet was elected. His answer: “After the federal party conference, the problem of unity lay less in my view with the CDU.”
Note to Söder: “Intelligence instead of storage strategies”
As on previous occasions, Laschet referred to an Allensbach poll which showed that the Union was perceived as divided during the election campaign. He was referring to the CSU and its chairman Markus Söder. Laschet emphasized the need for a climate in which the new chairman “has the support of the others”.
At the party congress in Hanover, the process for a new basic program, which has been interrupted since the beginning of the Corona crisis, is to be revived. “Now we are at a point where we have to reposition ourselves for the federal election in 2025,” said Laschet. In NRW, a basic program process in 2012 brought “great vitality” to the party.
As an opposition party against a coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP, the Union is in a special constellation. “And that’s why you have to do it with a certain intelligence and clarity, not with storage strategies.” As an opposition, the Union must point out the government’s deficits and develop alternatives. “In any case, it doesn’t help the CDU if you then say: We are the free South.”
Söder had recently stated that the CSU wanted to find its way back to old strength with a “Bavaria narrative” and to work out the difference between the “traffic light north” and the “free south”; Söder rules in Munich with the free voters who did not make it into the Bundestag on September 26th.
Without mentioning Söder, Laschet said that the CDU governs in numerous federal states in coalitions with at least one of the traffic light partners. “And we want these coalitions to continue doing good work in the future.” The tone of “talking about a ‘traffic light-free zone'” does not suit the CDU.