State premier for North Rhine-Westphalia wins support over rival Markus Söder in bid to succeed Angela Merkel

Armin Laschet, leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU), won the backing of senior party members at an internal meeting to run as the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel in September’s federal election, party sources have said.

German news website DW reported that 77.5% of the party board – 31 members – voted in favour of the party leader. His rival Markus Söder received just nine votes.

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Source: The Guardian