Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party on Saturday picked her ally Armin Laschet as its next leader. The vote kicks off the race for the country’s top job as a deadly pandemic roils Europe’s biggest economy. In the close race, Laschet, the state premier of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, triumphed over old Merkel nemesis Friedrich Merz, after a first round that saw Merz leading by just five votes. A third hopeful, foreign affairs expert Norbert Roettgen, was knocked out of the race.
Merz had campaigned on a promise to shift away from Merkel’s centrist path and steer right.— Reuters
