Armin Laschet, the New Chairman of Merkel's Party

Armin Laschet became the new chairman of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party. Armin Laschet was the winner of the contested election for president of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU). In Germany, Armin Laschet was elected as the leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU). At the 33rd General Assembly of the CDU, which was held digitally due to the measures taken within the scope of combating the coronavirus epidemic, North-Rhine Westphalia State Prime Minister Armin Laschet, former Deputy Friedrich Merz and Federal Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission President Norbert Röttgen competed for the chairmanship. In the first round of the elections, Merz won 385 of the 992 valid votes, 380 votes for Laschet and 224 votes for Röttgen, and 3 delegates abstained. As none of the candidates won more than half the number of delegates, the elections were left to the second round. Laschet, one of the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the first round, won the chair of the CDU by taking 521 of the 991 valid votes. Merz got 466 votes. However, 4 delegates chose to abstain. Thus, Armin Laschet was appointed as the 9th chairman of the CDU. Delegates will have to confirm this election by letter in order to legally register this election, which was made digitally due to the epidemic.   Who is Armin Laschet? Born in Aechen, Germany's North-Rhine Westphalia state in 1961, Armin Laschet studied law at Munich and Bonn universities in 1981-1987 and journalism in 1987-1988. Laschet, who worked as a freelance journalist in Bavaria until 1994, also served as a consultant to the then President of the Bundestag, Rita Süssmuth, and was a member of the Bundestag in 1994-1998 and in the European Parliament in 1999-2005. Laschet served as the Minister of Family, Women and Integration in the state where he was born between 2005-2010. Laschet, who lives in North-Rhine Westphalia and has close relations with the Turks, made important contributions to the Turkish-German friendship. The father of three, Laschet became Prime Minister of North-Rhine-Westphalia in 2017, known as Germany's most densely populated state, with a population of about 18 million.