2018 Christian Democratic Union of Germany leadership election

The 2018 Christian Democratic Union leadership election was held in Hamburg on 7 December 2018. This is after Angela Merkel's decision in October 2018 not to stand for party leader at the 2018 party conference following the party's bad performance^[1] in the 2018 Hessian state election and low numbers in national polls.^[2]

On 29 October 2018, both the CDU's General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn announced their candidacy in the election. This was followed by Merkel's arch-rival Friedrich Merz announced his bid on 30 October 2018.^[3][4]

Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected leader by winning 45.05% of the vote.^[5] Merz won 39.24% of the vote and Spahn won 15.72% of the vote.

1. ↑ Blond, Josie Le (2018-10-29). "Merkel suffers another election setback in key German state of Hesse". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
2. ↑ "Sonntagsfrage – Forsa (Wahlumfragen zur Bundestagswahl)". Wahlrecht.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-10-30.
3. ↑ Henley, Jon (2018-10-30). "Angela Merkel exit plan sparks succession battle in party ranks". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
4. ↑ Wer löst Merkel ab?, n-tv, 29 Oct 2018
5. ↑ Connolly, Kate (7 December 2018). "Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer elected Merkel's successor as CDU leader". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2018.