CDU party board backs Laschet to run as German conservative chancellor candidate

Reuters

Published Apr 19, 2021 23:48

BERLIN (Reuters) - Armin Laschet, leader of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), won the backing of senior party members at an internal meeting to run as the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel at a September federal election, party sources said on Tuesday.

A week-long showdown between Laschet, and Markus Soeder, leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, has done little to impress voters already turned off their conservative bloc by the government's chaotic handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.