Friedrich Merz formally took over Monday as the leader of Germany s main opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel after his election was endorsed by a postal ballot.
The 66-year-old conservative, a one-time rival and longtime critic of Merkel, emerged victorious from a ballot of the party’s membership in December, beating two other contenders. He was endorsed by a party convention just over a week ago — a result that, for legal reasons, needed formal confirmation in a postal ballot. In that ballot, the party said Monday, Merz won 837 out of the 895 votes submitted.
