clickorlando.com
75%
712
Pragmatic governor Laschet elected to lead Merkel's party
BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party on Saturday chose Armin Laschet, the pragmatic governor of Germany’s most populous state, as its new leader — sending a signal of continuity months before an election in which voters will decide who becomes the new chancellor.Laschet defeated Friedrich Merz, a conservative and one-time Merkel rival, at an online convention of the Christian Democratic Union. Laschet won 521 votes to Merz’s 466; a third candidate, prominent lawmaker Norbert Roettgen, was eliminated in a first round of voting.Saturday’s vote isn’t the final word on who will run as the center-right candidate for chancellor in Germany’s Sept.