CDU picks Kramp-Karrenbauer as Merkel's successor
Hamburg [Germany], Dec 7 (ANI): Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has been picked by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as their next party chief at a conference in Hamburg on Friday. She will be succeeding German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who held the post for 18 years.
ANI
Dec 07, 2018 23:42 IST
Hamburg [Germany], Dec 7 (ANI): Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has been picked by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as their next party chief at a conference in Hamburg on Friday. She will be succeeding German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who held the post for 18 years.
Merkel, who stepped down as the party chief today, will complete her term as Chancellor but will refrain from a re-election in 2021.
The decision was made by 999 voting delegates at CDU's conference, where Merkel was given a 10-minute standing ovation following her farewell speech.
Kramp-Karrenbauer surpassed Friedrich Merz in the two-round elections on December 7. She secured 450 votes in the first round, while Merz received 392 votes. Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn was eliminated in the first round itself with only 157 votes secured by him, according to Al Jazeera.
In the second round, Kramp-Karrenbauer defeated Merz with a slim margin of 35 votes. She took 517 votes, while Merz received 482 votes, leading to a win by the pro-Merkel leader.
The new party chief was serving as CDU's Secretary-General, before being elected to the post. She led a coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats during her time as the state premier in Saarland from 2011 to 2018
Even though Kramp-Karrenbauer enjoys Merkel's backing, she has not shied away from taking different stands than the Chancellor. She voted for having a quota for women on corporate boards, as opposed to Merkel, who was against the quota.
She now has the mammoth task of leading the CDU in the next German federal elections, scheduled to be held in 2021. (ANI)
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