Kramp-Karrenbauer seeks to unite German CDU after leadership battle

[December 08, 2018]  HAMBURG (Reuters) - Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the new leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, sought to bind the party together after a divisive leadership battle by promoting a rival's ally to a key post on Saturday.

Delegates from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) elected Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, on Friday to replace Merkel as party leader, a decision that moves her into pole position to succeed Europe's most influential leader as chancellor.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, the continuity candidate favored by the party elite, won a narrow victory over the more conservative Friedrich Merz in a run-off. Health Minister Jens Spahn, also a more conservative candidate, was knocked out in a first round.

On Saturday, Kramp-Karrenbauer proposed Paul Ziemiak, head of the Junge Union, the conservatives' youth wing, to replace her as CDU secretary general - a role in which he will organize the party, election campaigns and congresses, and support her.

Party delegates duly elected Ziemiak, 33, but with just 62.8 percent of the votes cast - a far narrower margin than the overwhelming 98.9 percent support with which Kramp-Karrenbauer was elected to the secretary general post in February.

The tight nature of Ziemiak's victory reflected the divisions in the CDU after a robust campaign for the leadership. Kramp-Karrenbauer's first job as new party leader is to try to unite the CDU ahead of European and regional elections in 2019.

Newly elected CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announces Paul Ziemiak as a candidate for party's secretary general, during the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party congress in Hamburg, Germany, December 8, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

"Paul Ziemiak is from the home region of Friedrich Merz. He's a close friend, from the Junge Union, of Jens Spahn," David McAllister, a member of the CDU's executive committee, told Reuters.

"So this move to choose Paul Ziemiak is a step forward by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, trying to unite the different camps which the endorsed the three different candidates," he added.

Merkel needs Kramp-Karrenbauer to unite the CDU to help steady her ruling coalition with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) - an awkward alliance that has come close to collapse several times since being formed in March.

(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

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