Armin Laschet in first place – NRW-CDU puts the electoral list

The president of the Christian Democratic Union, Armin Laschet, wants to be first on the list of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Bundestag. It was unclear who would become prime minister after him in the fall.

Prime Minister and candidate for Chancellor Armin Laschet is set to run as the top candidate for the Christian Democratic Union of North Rhine-Westphalia – Westphalian in the September federal elections. The board of directors of NRW-CDU Laschet was unanimously nominated for first place on the state list Tuesday evening in Dusseldorf. The State Representative Association of NRW-CDU will vote on the complete list of 75 candidates on June 5.

In second place on the state list, current Federal Education Minister Anya Karlichik, third place leader, Union Parliamentary Group Leader Ralph Brinkhouse. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn took fourth place. The Secretary-General of the Christian Democratic Union, Paul Zimiak, who entered the Bundestag in 2017, finished sixth.

Lachit does not want a direct mandate in Aachen

As a rule, many of the direct candidates in the CDU move to the Bundestag. The CDU’s regional grouping of NRW in the Bundestag currently has 42 members. Of these, 38 members won direct mandate in the 2017 federal election. At that time, only four states were awarded the state list. The CDU Executive Committee said that so far, the reserve list has always been drawn up.

In contrast, the federal president of CDU Laschet does not aim to directly delegate to his home district association Aachen I. The CDU in Aachen wants to nominate the health politician and head of the North Rhine Medical Association, Rudolf Hencke, as a direct candidate on Wednesday evening. Henke has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009. In the federal election on 26 September, Henke competed in the Aachen 1 district against Green Parliament’s deputy leader Oliver Krecher.

Scholz and Baerbock compete directly – against each other

It is unusual for CDU candidates not to apply for direct authorization. Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, won her constituency in West Pomerania for the eighth consecutive time in 2017. Laschet once won direct jurisdiction of the Aachen Diaspora in the 1994 federal election, but lost it again in the 1998 elections.

Unlike Laschet, the Social Democrats and Greens candidates, Olaf Schulz and Annalina Burbock, ran directly in the Bundestag in one constituency – both in Potsdam.

Friedrich Merz is not on the state list

The leader of the former union parliamentary group, Frederick Mears, who was defeated by Laschet in the CDU’s federal presidential election, seems sure he will get straight to the Bundestag: his name is not on the state list. Merz stands for Hochsauerlandkreis County Association – CDU stronghold.

“The proposal for the list from the State Council reflects the great diversity of individuals and the breadth of our state association’s programs,” said NRW CDU Secretary General Joseph Hovenorgen. From Chancellor Candidate to the many ideas for the government program at CDU and CSU, the NRW CDU brings “Heads and Concepts”.

Lachette had already made it clear that he wanted to stay in Berlin regardless of the outcome of the federal election on 26 September. It is unclear who will succeed him as the leader of the state party in the NRW CDU. This question should only be clarified at the State party’s conference on 23 October. Since Laschet has committed to Berlin, the CDU also needs an interim prime minister after the federal election through the NRW state elections in May 2022. The most promising candidate for both government and party leadership positions is NRW Transportation Minister Hendrik Wüst.