At the CDU party conference, all eyes were naturally focused on Friedrich Merz: How well will he do in the election for CDU chairman? Merz had wanted a result of more than 80 percent – it was almost 95 percent. But at party conferences, not only chairmen have to be evaluated. The popularity of the second row of the party is also measured there. A look at their results reveals whose career is coming to an end. Above all, however, it shows who the climbers could be in the coming years.
Michael Kretschmer, for example, shone in the election of the five deputy party chairmen. The Saxon Prime Minister came to 92.65 percent. Carsten Linnemann, until recently head of the business wing, achieved the second-best result. The members of the Bundestag Silvia Breher and Andreas Jung followed. Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Education, Karin Prien, came last by far with 70.83 percent.
Even more interesting were the elections for the other members of the Presidium and Federal Executive Board. Because there were more candidates than applicants. And clear pointers from the delegates – for Jens Spahn, for example.
Jens Spahn, formerly deputy CDU chairman, is now just a simple member of the executive committee.
(Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa)
Spahn had applied for the party chairmanship at the end of 2018. A year ago, in an opinion poll, he was the most popular politician in the country – he wouldn’t have minded becoming chancellor candidate. But instead of rising, he fell. He lost his ministerial post. His star also fell in the CDU. So far, Spahn has been deputy federal chairman. He did not run for this post at the party congress. He knew it would have been hopeless. Instead, he only applied for a simple membership in the presidency. But even for that he was no longer good enough for many delegates. Spahn only got 60.21 percent of the votes, nobody in the new presidium achieved a worse result.
Head of the Young Group now in the Executive Committee
Even Ronja Kemmer, Ina Scharrenbach and Ines Claus – all three competed for the first time – performed significantly better than Spahn. Kemmer is only 32 years old, she is the head of the young group of the Union faction. Scharrenbach, 45, is a minister in North Rhine-Westphalia. And Claus, 44, leads the CDU parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament. The three women are undoubtedly winners of this weekend.
One of the winners of the party conference, NRW Minister Ina Scharrenbach.
(Photo: Roberto Pfeil/dpa)
The chairwoman of the Women’s Union, Annette Widmann-Mauz, was punished. There were eight candidates for the election of the seven ordinary members of the Executive Committee. Spahn achieved the worst result of the seven elected – but Widmann-Mauz was not chosen at all. Like Ronja Kemmer, the 55-year-old comes from Baden-Württemberg. And the delegates chose the younger of the two candidates from this state.
The main reason for the failure of Widmann-Mauz is likely to be their commitment to a women’s quota. In 2020, after years of pressure from the Women’s Union, the CDU Statutes Committee spoke out in favor of introducing such a quota. But that would require an amendment to the bylaws. However, amendments to the statutes can only be decided at face-to-face party conferences, which is why the quota was not on the agenda this time either. Formally, the pandemic once again prevented the introduction of the quota, but there are many in the CDU who are not particularly bothered by it – as the poor result for Widmann-Mauz proves.
Incidentally, men achieved the best results in the election of ordinary members of the Presidency. Karl-Josef Laumann, head of the employee wing, came in first place – ahead of the Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, and the Lower Saxony Minister of Economics, Bernd Althusmann.
Ex-Minister Anja Karliczek fails in the board election
In the election of the other federal executive board members, five results in particular stood out. Anja Karliczek, who was still federal minister in December, did not make it onto the board. The southpaw Sylvia Pantel, who likes to show up with Hans-Georg Maassen, also failed. She received by far the worst result.
Joe Chialo entered the CDU board with an outstanding result.
(Photo: Michael Sohn/AP)
In contrast, the result of Joe Chialo was spectacular. The 51-year-old music manager comes from a Tanzanian diplomatic family. He was a metal singer, boxer, bouncer and member of the Green Party. Now he moved into the CDU board with the best result. Jessica Heller also did very well. The 31-year-old is a nurse in a Leipzig intensive care unit and is now on the board for the first time. The 25-year-old lawyer Wiebke Winter from the Climate Union was already on the federal executive board, she has now been re-elected.
During his term in office, the former CDU General Secretary Peter Tauber set himself the goal of making the CDU younger, more female and more diverse. At least with Wiebke Winter, Jessica Heller and Joe Chialo that could succeed.