German CDU elects Kramp-Karrenbauer as new party leader

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (64)will be replaced by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the leader of Germany's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party

The choice was made by 999 voting delegates at a party congress in the German city of Hamburg on Friday Dec 07,2018, the day Merkel was seen off with a nine-minute standing ovation after 18 years as the party chief

Friday's two-round vote came weeks after Angela Merkel decided in October not to seek re-election to the post while expressing her readiness to stay on as Germany's chancellor for the remaining three years of her term

Kramp-Karrenbauer - a Merkel protege - defeated Friedrich Merz, a Merkel rival who has questioned the constitutional guarantee of asylum to all "politically persecuted" in the second round with 517 votes to 482

In the first round, Kramp-Karrenbauer won 450 votes, Merz took 392 votes and Health Minister Jens Spahn was eliminated with 157 votes.