Party conference of the CDU of Germany 2021

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Cdu-logo.svg
title 33rd Ordinary Party Congress
Serial number 33
place Berlin / digital
Beginning January 15, 2021
Duration (in days) 2
Delegates 1,001
Website www.cdu-parteitag.de

The 33rd party conference of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany took place from January 15 to January 16, 2021 for the first time as a digital event without the local presence of delegates. The most important item on the program was the election of the entire CDU federal executive committee and a new party chairman .

The North Rhine-Westphalian politicians Armin Laschet , Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen ran for chairmanship . Laschet won the digital vote in the second round. The result must be legally secured in a postal vote.

prehistory

Planned party conference on April 25, 2020

On February 10, 2020, the incumbent CDU chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that she was not running for chancellor in the 2021 federal election and that she was withdrawing from the party chairmanship. Originally, an additional party congress for the election of a new chairman was supposed to take place in Berlin on April 25, 2020 , the convening of the ordinary party congress was decided by the federal executive committee on February 24, 2020. On March 12, 2020 it was announced that the party conference would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

Planned party conference on December 4, 2020

On September 14, 2020, CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak announced that the regular federal party conference should be shortened to one day on December 4, 2020 in Stuttgart , after the Presidium and the Federal Executive had met the day before. On the agenda of the party congress, which should take place under a strict Corona hygiene concept, only the speech by the outgoing party chairman Kramp-Karrenbauer, a discussion and the election of the new board would have been. There would have been no substantive debates.

On October 26, 2020, the CDU party executive decided against the previously planned scheduling of the party congress due to the development of the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to decide on the new date at the earliest in mid-December. Because of the invitation period of four weeks, it was clear that the party congress could not take place until 2021. Friedrich Merz in particular , who is not a member of the federal executive board himself, criticized this decision fiercely and suspected that "the postponement of the party congress has little to do with Corona and a lot to do with other considerations". He interpreted the postponement of the party conference as part of a strategy of the “CDU establishment ” to prevent his election as party chairman.

Digital party convention and postal voting

The three candidates for party chairmanship, Armin Laschet , Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen , agreed on October 31, 2020 to propose a new date for the party congress to the party executive committee in mid-January 2021. On December 14, 2020, the CDU party executive decided that the party congress should begin on Friday evening, January 15, 2021, and should take place almost entirely digitally. Only the presidium of the party and the candidates from Messe Berlin took part, all other delegates were connected digitally.

It was also determined that the entire new CDU federal executive board, including the chairman, would initially be elected digitally on January 16. This is followed by a legally binding final vote by postal vote , the result of which is to be announced on January 22, 2021. In this postal vote, only Armin Laschet will be able to vote as the winner of the digital election, the options are “yes”, “no” and “abstention”. It is the first digitally conducted person election in German party history .

Hacker attacks

According to General Secretary Paul Ziemiak, the CDU experienced hacker attacks in the form of DDoS attacks on its own website during the party conference . But the party was prepared for such attacks and was largely able to repel them and evade them. The delegates' digital workplaces were set up outside the CDU infrastructure and were therefore not affected, as was the provider's digital voting system, which ran on servers that were not publicly known. As a result, streaming of the party congress on the CDU website was only temporarily restricted - the transmission on YouTube and on television continued, however.

Personal details

At the party congress, a new election of the entire CDU federal executive board, which had been elected at the party congress in December 2018 , was due.

Federal Presidency

In February 2020, party chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that she would resign from office. First, Norbert Röttgen announced his candidacy for the party chairmanship on February 18, followed shortly after each other on February 25 by North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet , supported by Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn , who was temporarily himself a candidate , and Friedrich Merz , who had previously attended the 2018 party conference had run.

The election as chairman is also seen as a programmatic directional decision and an important area code for the CDU and CSU chancellor candidate because Angela Merkel has announced that she will not run again. Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder and, most recently, Jens Spahn again, were said to have ambitions.

Candidates and Results

Digital voting
picture Personal Offices (as of January 15, 2021) Proclamation Result

1st ballot

Result

2nd ballot

Laying of the foundation stone MiQua-7004 (cropped) .jpg Armin Laschet

(* 1961) North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia 

Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia (since 2017)

Deputy Chairman of the CDU (since 2012)
Chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia (since 2012)
Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (since 2010)
Member of the European Parliament (1999–2005)
Member of the Bundestag (1994–1998)

February 25, 2020
380/1001
521/1001
Friedrich Merz 2019 (cropped) .jpg Friedrich Merz

(* 1955) North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia 

Group leader of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag (2000–2002)

Member of the Bundestag (1994–2009)
Member of the European Parliament (1989–1994)

February 25, 2020
385/1001
466/1001
Hard but fair - 2020-02-10-4304 (cropped) .jpg Norbert Röttgen

(* 1965) North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia 

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (since 2014)

Member of the Bundestag (1994 – today)
Federal Environment Minister (2009–2012)
Deputy Chairman of the CDU (2010–2012)
Chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia (2010–2012)
First Parliamentary Managing Director of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group (2005–2009)

February 18, 2020
224/1001
 -
abstention
3/1001
4/1001
not matched
9/1001
10/1001
Postal vote
picture candidate be right
Laying of the foundation stone MiQua-7004 (cropped) .jpg Armin Laschet

(* 1961) North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia 

0/1001
No
0/1001
abstention
0/1001
not matched
0/1001

Election campaign

Before the party congress, there was a live stream with the three candidates for the party chairmanship in mid-December 2020, as well as two joint candidate rounds on December 14, 2020 and January 8, 2021. In October, the Junge Union held the so-called JUPitch with the three candidates and themselves Subsequently, in an online vote, a majority vote in favor of Friedrich Merz. The JU chairman Tilman Kuban said that he considered the result to be binding for himself and an important recommendation for the 100 delegates of the JU.

The CDU economic wing, the Mittelstands-Union , supported the candidacy of Friedrich Merz even before the first party conference was canceled by a decision of a presidium meeting in March 2020, and the federal executive committee of the CDA employee wing unanimously voted for Armin Laschet in December. The Women's Union declared around to support a week before the digital party congress, the candidacies of Armin Laschet and Röttgen.

Survey

Survey period Institute Respondents Laying of the foundation stone MiQua-7004 (cropped) .jpg
Lash 		Friedrich Merz 2017.jpg
Merz 		Hard but fair - 2020-02-10-4304 (cropped) .jpg
Röttgen 		Others / None
January 15, 2021 Forsa ? 19% 21% 29% 31%
4-5. January 2021 Infratest dimap 1,020 18% 27% 22% 19%
CDU voters 25% 29% 25% -
24-25. November 2020 Infratest Dimap 1,047 15% 27% 16% 21%
CDU voters 15% 39% 22% 15%
20-22. October 2020 Forsa 1,007 CDU members 24% 45% 13% -
3-5. March 2020 Research group elections 1,276 24% 27% 11% 30%
CDU voters 27% 40% 10% 19%
Forecast of delegate votes
date Institute Laying of the foundation stone MiQua-7004 (cropped) .jpg
Lash 		Friedrich Merz 2017.jpg
Merz 		Hard but fair - 2020-02-10-4304 (cropped) .jpg
Röttgen 		Other
January 14, 2021 The European 310 410 180 100
January 11, 2021 The European 310 395 125 170
January 8, 2021 The European 290 395 115 200
January 3, 2021 The European 260 380 60 300

vice-chairman

The previous deputies, with the exception of the new chairman Armin Laschet, all started again. Jens Spahn , who had already supported Laschet as a team partner in the party election campaign , ran for his place .

Treasurer

Further members of the executive committee

Mike Mohring did not run again for the election of the seven other members of the Presidium , Jens Spahn had already been elected as deputy party chairman. The following were chosen:

Further federal board members

26 assessors were elected to the federal board:

The following was elected as member representative:

procedure

On Friday, January 15, there were speeches by the party chairman and general secretary, greetings from Chancellor Angela Merkel , CSU chairman Markus Söder and the President of the European People's Party (EPP) Donald Tusk , as well as the reports of the Federal Treasurer and the Member Commissioner. Representatives have already been elected for the EPP board and the EPP congresses, as well as the members' commissioner and the Federal Party Court.

On Saturday, since none of the three candidates achieved an absolute majority in the first ballot , the new party leader was elected in two ballots . The Bundestag parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and the chairman of the CDU / CSU group in the EU Parliament Daniel Caspary reported. Before the other posts on the board and the presidium were elected, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and the Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Zichanouskaja addressed the delegates. The party congress ended with the deliberations on applications and the closing remarks by the newly elected Chairman Laschet.

The candidates for observer positions in the Presidium and the National Board were presented digitally through previously submitted videos. Only the candidates for party chairmanship and deputy chairmanship were gathered in Berlin.

decisions

Since the main goal of the digital party congress was the election of the new federal executive board, the usual advice on applications was dispensed with. Only on the main proposal of the federal executive committee The CDU: digital and powerful was voted, it was accepted by the delegates with a large majority. In this, the party demands, among other things, a reform of the law on political parties “in order to be able to bring about legal security for the implementation of online party congresses with binding decision-making authority”.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CDU chairmanship: Laschet narrowly wins the runoff election against Merz - and now only has to fear one. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . January 16, 2021, accessed January 17, 2021.
  2. ↑ Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer: Resignation after many mishaps. In: ZDFheute. February 10, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  3. ↑ CDU postpones party congress due to corona crisis . March 12, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2020.
  4. ↑ tagesschau.de : CDU party convention: Via Corona emergency program to the new boss. Retrieved September 15, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Cancellation of the party congress causes Zoff in the CDU - Merz: "Decision against the base". In: handelsblatt.com . October 26, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  6. ↑ The candidate feels like a victim of a CDU intrigue: Merz sees “clear indications” that Laschet wants to postpone the party congress. In: Tagesspiegel . October 27, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  7. ^ Paul Ziemiak: Proposal for a party conference in mid-January , CDU, October 31, 2020
  8. ↑ CDU: Board of Directors resolves online party conference for January. In: Spiegel online . December 14, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Committees decide on the digital party conference in January. cdu.de, December 14, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  10. ↑ CDU wants to be united again. In: n-tv.de. January 14, 2021, accessed January 17, 2021 .
  11. ↑ 16 days until the party conference - cdu.de. December 30, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  12. ↑ CDU reports numerous hacker attacks at party congresses. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved January 16, 2021 .
  13. ↑ CDU party congress takes place in mid-January. In: sueddeutsche.de , December 14, 2020.
  14. ^ Decision of CDU bodies: CDU party congress with new party chairmanship election on April 25, 2020 in Berlin. February 24, 2020, accessed February 24, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Sharp criticism of Klingbeil: AKK criticizes SPD for "dirty campaign" . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 24, 2020]).
  16. ↑ Norbert Röttgen is running for the CDU chairmanship. In: Der Spiegel. Accessed December 30, 2020 .
  17. ↑ CDU chairmanship: Röttgen wants to compete in a team with a woman . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 25, 2020]).
  18. ↑ Laschet wants to become CDU leader: "Merge party and country". In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved February 25, 2020 .
  19. ^ Press conference in Berlin: Friedrich Merz announces candidacy for CDU chairmanship . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 25, 2020]).
  20. ^ Peter Mühlbauer: Chancellor debate: Spahn instead of Söder? In: heise.de. Retrieved January 9, 2021 .
  21. ↑ Member survey : Junge Union supports Merz in the race for CDU party leadership. In: Der Spiegel. November 3, 2020, accessed December 30, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Mittelstandsunion nominates Friedrich Merz for party chairmanship. In: Die Zeit Online. March 2, 2020, accessed December 31, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Party chairmanship: CDU workers' wing supports Armin Laschet in his candidacy for chairmanship. In: Wirtschaftswoche . December 11, 2020, accessed January 14, 2021 .
  24. ↑ Frauen Union favors Norbert Röttgen or Armin Laschet as CDU boss. In: Der Spiegel. January 7, 2021, accessed January 11, 2021 .
  25. ↑ Merz, Laschet or Röttgen? Forsa survey on the CDU election shows a mixed picture. In: editorial network Germany . January 15, 2021, accessed January 17, 2021.
  26. ↑ https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend/deutschlandtrend-2473.html
  27. ↑ Future CDU party chairman: Merz has an advantage despite losses. In: infratest.dimap.de . Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  28. ↑ Among the CDU members, Merz is far ahead of Laschet and Röttgen. In: The world . October 24, 2020, accessed January 17, 2021.
  29. ↑ CDU chairmanship: Merz just before Laschet. In: zdf.de . March 6, 2020, accessed January 17, 2021.
  30. ↑ CDU party convention live ticker: The delegates elect Armin Laschet as the new chairman. In: The European . January 16, 2021, accessed January 17, 2021.
  31. ↑ https://www.theeuropean.de/the-european-redaktion/neue-sondierungsanalyse-zum-cdu-parteitag/
  32. ↑ https://www.theeuropean.de/the-european-redaktion/sondierungsanalyse-zum-cdu-parteitag/
  33. ↑ https://www.theeuropean.de/the-european-redaktion/exclusive-sondierungsanalyse-zum-cdu-parteitag/
  34. ^ Resolution: The CDU: digital and powerful. CDU-Parteitag.de, accessed on January 18, 2021 .