German conservatives elect former rival to Merkel as president

German conservatives on Saturday elected Frederick Merz, a former rival of Angela Merkel, as their new president, with the task of correcting the course of a party exhausted since its defeat in the legislative elections.

About 980 delegates from the CDU voted during a video conference due to the pandemic.  The voter turnout approached 95 percent in favor of the 66-year-old MP, knowing that he was the only candidate after being considered the most likely party member in December.

 Frederick Merz expressed his "great affection" with these results, after he had failed twice to reach this position in recent years.

 He promised to return to a traditional conservative approach after years of centrist Merkel led.  He will have to revive a party that has been in deep crisis since its resounding loss in the September 26 legislative elections, when it achieved the weakest results in its history.

The poor performance prompted outgoing party chief and losing candidate for chancellor Armin Laschet to withdraw.

 Merz called the party Saturday to close ranks.  "We must be a strong opposition. We want to win the elections," he said, referring to several regional elections expected this year.

 After leading Germany for 16 years, the CDU became in the opposition for the next four years in the face of a government formed by the Social Democrats led by Olaf Scholz with the Liberal Party and the Greens.

 And the new leader of the Conservatives attacked Schulz, accusing him of inaction, both in the discussion of compulsory vaccination against Covid-19, and in the Ukraine crisis.

 Friedrich Mers makes no secret of his desire to end the Merkel era, although he did not attack the former chancellor directly.

 Their rivalry dates back to the beginning of the second millennium, when Merkel was head of the Christian Democratic Union and excluded him from heading the party's parliamentary group.

 In 2009, Merz withdrew permanently from political life and returned to work in the financial field.  He worked as a lawyer in a large office in Dusseldorf, and made millions after taking sensitive positions in large German companies.