Winner of party vote tipped to become Germany’s next chancellor and Europe’s most powerful politicianAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a staunchly Catholic conservative career politician, has been elected as the successor to Angela Merkel as leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats. Kramp-Karrenbauer won by just 25 votes following a nail-biting second round run-off against her main opponent, the multi-millionaire businessman Friedrich Merz. Kramp-Karrenbauer had won the first round of voting, securing 45% or 450 votes, and went on to win 517 votes in the second. She told party delegates she was “not a mini version” of Merkel, but her “own person”. Watching from the sidelines, Udo Tappe, a long-time CDU member described it as the most exiting moment for the party in decades.

Source: The Guardian December 07, 2018 16:03 UTC