Armin Laschet is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 31 January 2022. He was elected to the German Bundestag following the 2021 German federal election.
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz is a German conservative politician serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the parliamentary group of CDU/CSU (Union) as well as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag since 15 February 2022. In September 2024 Merz became the Union's designated candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the 2025 federal election.
Jens Georg Spahn is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU),he has been the member of the lower house of the federal parliament,the Bundestag,for Steinfurt I –Borken I since 2002.
Marco Wanderwitz is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 2018 until 2021,he served as Parliamentary State Secretary in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Markus Thomas Theodor Söder is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018 and leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) since 2019.
Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel,first elected in 2005,chose not to run again,marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election.
Daniel Günther is a German politician who is a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). Since 28 June 2017,he has served as the Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein. From 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019,he served as President of the Bundesrat,being succeeded by Dietmar Woidke.
"Wir schaffen das" is a statement made by Angela Merkel,the then-Chancellor of Germany,during the 2015 European migrant crisis. It has been described as a core slogan of the German concept of Willkommenskultur. She repeated the statement several times at the 2015 Christian Democratic Union party conference. The phrase has become a symbol of Merkel's refugee policy used by supporters and detractors alike.
Katja Isabel Leikert is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2013,representing the Hanau electoral district. Within the CDU/CSU Bundestag Group,parliamentary colleagues elected her one of the alliance's eleven Bundestag deputy chairpersons in January 2018.
Karin Prien is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister of Education,Science and Culture of Schleswig-Holstein in the government of Minister-President Daniel Günther since 28 June 2017. She was previously a member of the Hamburg Parliament.
Kai Wegner is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Governing Mayor of Berlin since April 2023. He served as a member of the Bundestag,the German federal parliament,from 2005 to 2021. In 2019,he became the chairman of the CDU in Berlin.
Silvia Maria Breher is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a Member of the Bundestag for the constituency of Cloppenburg –Vechta since the 2017 federal election. At the CDU conference in November 2019 she was elected as one of the deputy leaders of her party;she succeeded Ursula von der Leyen who had been elected to the Presidency of the European Commission.
Marie-Luise Dött is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2021.
Andreas Jung is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2005.
Mario Czaja is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections.
Nathanael Liminski is a German politician from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since 30 June 2017,he has been Head of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and since June 29,2022 Minister for Federal,European and International Affairs and the Media. Liminski was considered the irreplaceable "mastermind" and most important confidant of former Prime Minister and failed CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet and is now perceived as a close collaborator of new Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst.
Federal elections in Germany will be held to elect the members of the 21st Bundestag. They are currently scheduled to be held on 28 September 2025. However,the elections are expected to be brought forward to 23 February due to the collapse of the governing traffic light coalition during the 2024 German government crisis. If held early,the 2025 election would be the fourth snap election in the history of post-war Germany after those in 1972,1983 and 2005.
Hendrik Josef Wüst is a German politician serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2021. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In October 2021,he succeeded Armin Laschet as state chairman of his party. Under Wüst's leadership,his party won the highest vote share in the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election.
The December 2021 Christian Democratic Union leadership election was held in December 2021. The leader of the party was elected indirectly by a party convention,for the first time the CDU held a vote by the membership to decide the candidate which the party's executive board proposed to the party convention. Though the convention is not obliged to elect the proposed candidates,the membership vote is considered politically binding. The online vote of members was from 4 December to 16 December 2021 and the convention in Hanover on 21 and 22 January 2022 formalised the election.
