CDU party chairmanship: Merz apparently wants to run again

Chancellery chief Braun and Bundestag member Röttgen have already thrown their hats in the ring, now another candidate is probably joining: According to media reports, Merz wants to run again for the CDU party chairmanship.

Ex-Union faction leader Friedrich Merz apparently wants to run for the CDU chairmanship. This is reported by the dpa news agency with reference to party circles. In addition, the chairman of Merz’s Hochsauerland district association, Matthias Kerkhoff, said Merz would speak at a district board meeting on Monday evening and justify the application. His nomination by the district board is then considered a matter of form.

This is the third time that the economic expert has attempted the office of chairman after Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her withdrawal from the party chairmanship in 2018. First the “Bild” newspaper reported.

Brinkhaus is not running

Foreign politician Norbert Röttgen and Chancellor Helge Braun had already announced their candidacies for the CDU chairmanship. Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus, who was also considered to be a possible candidate to succeed the CDU chairman Armin Laschet, who failed in the Bundestag election, is declining to run, according to a report by the “Neue Westfälische”.

During a meeting of his Gütersloh district association, Brinkhaus did not ask for a proposal from his home association. “Ralph Brinkhaus was involved in the meeting and after careful consideration he did not throw his hat into the ring,” said district association chief Raphael Tigges of the newspaper.

Röttgen and Braun had called for the party’s content to be repositioned after its debacle in the federal election. They urged unity, also with the sister party CSU. They also announced that they would modernize the party headquarters. The managing health minister Jens Spahn had announced that he would not run again.