Jens Spahn has been elected as the new head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. According to participant reports, he received over 90% of the votes at the group meeting on Monday. The election took place one day before the Bundestag session in which Friedrich Merz plans to be elected as the Federal Chancellor. Merz, who was elected as party leader in 2022, had previously held the position of Fraktionspresident and is now stepping down. Spahn, who will turn 45 in 11 days, has been a member of the CDU presidency since 2014 and was the vice-chairman of the CDU from 2021 to 2022. He served as Health Minister from 2018 to 2021. However, in the new cabinet of the Union and SPD coalition, he did not receive a ministerial position.
Merz’s Bid for Chancellorship Gets a New Player
