CSU executive committee votes unanimously for Merz as candidate for chancellor
Published: Monday, Sep 23rd 2024, 11:50
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As expected, the leadership of the German Christian Socialists is united behind CDU leader Friedrich Merz's candidacy for Chancellor.
The Executive Board voted unanimously by a show of hands in favor of the personnel decision, which the heads of the two sister parties, Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder, had already agreed on last week. This was revealed to the German Press Agency by participants. "I am wholeheartedly behind this," Söder reportedly said.
With its demonstrative unity, the CSU wants to strengthen Merz's back in order to increase the Union's chances of success in the Bundestag elections on September 28, 2025. In the 2021 election, there were major disagreements between Söder and the then chancellor candidate Armin Laschet, which ultimately led to the CDU/CSU losing a massive amount of votes and losing its chance of winning the election.
Merz - like all other Union Chancellor candidates before him - is dependent on the support of Söder and his CSU in the upcoming election campaign.
The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of the CDU and only runs in its home state, while the CDU only runs in the 15 other German states. The two parties form a joint parliamentary group in the Bundestag and always run a joint lead candidate in national elections.
In opinion polls, the CDU/CSU is currently far ahead of all other parties with figures between 32 and 35.5%. The three "traffic light" parties, SPD, Greens and FDP, together only score between 29 and 30 percent, with the FDP even having to fear for its re-entry into the Bundestag with 4 percent in the polls.
©Keystone/SDA
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