Change of power in NRW
Armin Laschet resigns as Prime Minister
Laschet moves from NRW to Berlin.
© Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images
Armin Laschet had already announced before the general election that he would leave his post as prime minister in the event of a defeat. He’s going to Berlin as a member of parliament. Hendrik Wüst is to inherit him in office.
CDU Federal Chief Armin Laschet has resigned from his position as Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. State Parliament President André Kuper (CDU) handed him the certificate of termination of office on Monday, as a spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament announced in Düsseldorf. Laschet had to resign from his position as head of government because he accepted his parliamentary mandate in Berlin on Tuesday. According to the NRW state constitution, a Bundestag mandate is not compatible with a government office at state level.
Hendrik Wüst is to be elected Prime Minister
On Wednesday, the Düsseldorf deputies elect a new head of government in a special session. The election of the previous State Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) is planned. Wüst was elected Laschet’s successor as party leader with 98.3 percent at a CDU state party conference on Saturday.
Laschet had announced that even in the event of a defeat in the federal elections, he would give up his office in North Rhine-Westphalia and go to Berlin. He lost with the CDU and CSU against the SPD, which is now negotiating with its chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz about the formation of a new federal government with the Greens and the FDP.