Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and then co-deputy vice president Armin Rachet, who attended the 2017 Christian Democratic Party event side by side in Germany. On the 16th (local time), Rachet was elected as the leader of the CDP. [EPA=연합뉴스]
– Armin Rachet (60), Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, has been elected as the new party leader of the German ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU). With the election of Candidate Rachet, who continues the center-right stance of Prime Minister Angela Merkel (67), Germany is expected to continue its existing policies for the time being.
First online election, second round of voting ends
Merkel’s support beat 1st place Mertz
“No extreme confrontation, German unity and unity”
If you win the September general election, the prime minister rises
– On the 16th (local time), in the first online CDP presidential election in the history of a German political party, Rachet won the second round of votes in which 1001 delegates participated, winning a majority of 521 votes, beating Friedrich Merz’s former homemaker (466 votes).
In the first round of voting, Candidate Merz (385 votes) was superior to Lachett (380 votes) and Norbert Rötgen, chairman of the Federal House Foreign Affairs Committee (224 votes), but the second round of votes was not secured, resulting in the victory of Lachett. .
On that day, Rachet stressed to the party delegate, “We need to be clear, but we must not engage in extreme confrontations. We must unite German society and maintain unity.” He pointed out that “a lot of people think of Merkel wonderfully and trust him while leading the CDP,” he said. “We have to keep trying to earn that trust, and more important elections are ahead of us.” It means that he will follow the policy stance of Prime Minister Merkel and win the election of the federal parliament this fall.
If the ruling CDU and CSU coalition wins the general election on September 26th, Rachett is more likely to succeed Merkel as prime minister. This is because Prime Minister Merkel, who has been in power for 16 years, will not appear this time after taking responsibility for the defeat of the local elections in October 2018 and not running for the next general election. Annegret Krampkarenbauer, 59, who was secretary-general of the Democratic Party, emerged as Merkel’s successor when he was elected as party representative in December of that year. He succeeded Urzula von der Laien, who transferred to the European Union Commission in July 2019, as the Minister of Defense, but was forced to declare his absence for the next general election in February 2020. Leadership was criticized for failing to prevent the far right party,’Alternatives for Germany (AfD)’ from serving as a kingmaker by supporting the Liberal Democratic Party, a minority party, in the election of the former Thuringian governor in East Germany.
Rachett supported Merkel in 2015 during a political crisis when he decided to host hundreds of thousands of refugees. It is evaluated that Merkel’s support played a part in Rachett’s ability to gain a position and expandability in the party after surpassing Merz, which was influential in the party’s election. Mertz has been fiercely competing for leadership within the party when Merkel took over as the leader of the Democratic Party, the opposition party in 2000. Criticizing Merkel’s progressive policies, including refugee engagement, gained support from conservatives in the party. Manfred Güller, head of the Forza Institute, a German investigative agency, said, “Thanks to Rachett being the representative, the Democratic Party (by absorbing the vote of progression) is able to avoid losing its position to the Green Party.”
Germany’s novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) is Rachet’s biggest challenge. The Washington Post (WP) commented that “The CDP’s recent polls have achieved good results thanks to Merkel’s good response to the pandemic.”
Reporter Kim Hong-bum [email protected]
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