Armin Laschet, head of conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, gives a statement following a meeting with his party's leadership at the CDU headquarters in Berlin, Germany, March 29, 2021. /Reuters
The leader of Germany's southern state of Bavaria on Tuesday backed his rival Armin Laschet as the chancellor candidate of their conservative bloc to replace Angela Merkel after a general election in September.
"The die is cast: Armin Laschet will be the chancellor candidate of the Union," Markus Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) Bavarian sister party of Laschet's CDU told a news conference.
"The CDU met yesterday and decided. We accept that, and I respect that," Soeder said, ending a damaging rift in the CDU/CSU alliance known as 'the Union.' "I called Armin Laschet and congratulated him. I told him that we as the CSU accept it.
We offered him our full support. We will support him without a grudge and with all our power."
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