Meeting this Saturday, September 23 at a congress, the Christian Social Party re-elected Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder as leader, two weeks before regional test elections.
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With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut
The CSU president can breathe. With 96.5% of the votes, nine points more than two years ago, Markus Söder achieved a marshal’s score. The result is reminiscent of blessed times when the Social Christians reigned almost unchallenged over Bavaria. On Saturday in Munich, the congress delegates undoubtedly wanted to close ranks behind their leader.
But the current polls are causing a certain excitement within the party, with voting intentions between 36 and 38% after a historically low score to 37% five years ago. Many parties would rejoice at such results; not the CSU.
Markus Söder as usual praised the merits of Bavaria in the leading pack in Germany. But he also repeatedly attacked the Freie Wähler party, to the right of the CSU, with which Markus Söder governs. The movement is climbing in the polls and gaining precious points from the Social Christians in the process.
The result of the Bavarian regionals in two weeks will be closely monitored. The political future of Markus Söder on his land is at stake, but also beyond his national ambitions, since a bad result would jeopardize his chances of being the candidate for the chancellery of the conservatives in 2025.