Horst Seehofer was not only CSU leader, federal minister and Bavarian Prime Minister, but also a master of political ridicule. “What is the difference between a doghouse and a party vice-president?” Seehofer liked to ask – and immediately followed up with the answer: “The doghouse is for the dog – and the party vice-president is for the cat.”
If you look at it that way, Friedrich Merz would have no problem. But of course deputy party leaders are not as irrelevant as in Seehofer’s joke. And that’s why the CDU leader has a problem. A new deputy party leader must be elected at the federal party conference in May because the previous incumbent, Carsten Linnemann, is now general secretary. And it’s not easy to find a successor solution that satisfies everyone. Since the party conference takes place just a month before the European elections, Merz definitely wants to avoid any discord. Not an easy task.
Merz has little use for regional proportional representation
Merz was vice president of the CDU’s Economic Council, and Linnemann was head of the SME and Economic Union for a long time. A social politician would be a good addition to the party leadership, according to the social policy wing of the CDU, the Christian Democratic Workers’ Association (CDA). There you can imagine Karl-Josef Laumann as party vice-president. The North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of Social Affairs has been head of the CDA since 2005. He is popular across all camps in the CDU. Next weekend, the CDA wants to discuss whether to nominate Laumann as CDU deputy. However, Merz and Linnemann also come from North Rhine-Westphalia. Is a regional association allowed to dominate the CDU like this?
Merz has little use for such questions. When Linnemann was introduced as general secretary, the CDU leader said that North Rhine-Westphalia had “been undervalued in federal politics and in the federal party for a long time.” Now there are “a certain number of representatives from North Rhine-Westphalia.” For him, “origin doesn’t matter, only qualifications do.” Nevertheless, many CDU state associations look enviously at the great influence of North Rhine-Westphalia.
East German regional associations are also hopeful
Merz believes that not only the complaints about the power of the NRW CDU are unhelpful, but also the grumbling among social politicians about Linnemann and him at the party leadership. Both he and Linnemann are “not representatives of a wing or part of the party, but rather representatives of the entire party,” says Merz. “We feel just as committed to economic policy issues as we do to social policy issues.” In addition, as a supporter of the social market economy, one is of the firm opinion that “economic policy and social policy are not opposites, but that they are part of a whole understanding of politics.”
But it’s not just the social politicians who have hopes, but also the East German regional associations. There will be tough state election campaigns in Brandenburg, Saxony and especially Thuringia in the fall. In Thuringia, the state and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt is also the top candidate. A promotion in the federal CDU would give him additional attention and help in the election campaign. On Wednesday evening Voigt announced in the Thuringian General to seek a place on the executive board of the federal party.
A possible solution at the federal party conference could be for Laumann to become CDU vice-president. So far, the social politician has only been a simple member of the presidium – Voigt could then take over this office.
The Thuringian party and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt is leading the CDU as the top candidate in the state elections in September. He could use some extra attention.
(Photo: Thomas Bartilla/Imago)
But what about the women? The CDU chairman is a man, as is the general secretary. And with Karin Prien and Silvia Breher, only two of the five previous vice-presidents are women. But the Women’s Union (FU) has so far not sent anyone into the race; it knows that it is hopeless. At the last election party conference, FU leader Annette Widmann-Mauz didn’t even manage to become a simple member of the executive committee.
This was also due to the reservations of many delegates towards the women’s union and the person Widmann-Mauz. However, there is currently no woman outside the FU structures who is being considered for the vacant position at the top of the CDU. Laumann faces no competition from this side. However, there are still a few weeks until the party conference. It could well be that there is still a male interested in the open party deputy position who does not come from North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2012, the CDU resorted to a trick
Before the 2012 federal party conference, there were more interested parties than deputy places – but they wanted to avoid combat candidacies. At that time, the CDU simply changed its statutes and increased the number of party vice-presidents from four to five. There should be no such solution this time, it is said in the Konrad Adenauer House, and the number of deputy party leaders will certainly not be increased again.