Thorsten Frei (CDU) has been elected as the new leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag. According to the dts news agency and participants, he secured 91.9% approval during a special session held on Wednesday.
A large majority of the group was present for the election, with 180 out of 208 CDU parliament members attending, many of whom had to interrupt their vacation time. Despite the assembly, the session proved to require more discussion than initially expected. Although the meeting began at 2 PM, the scheduled 3 PM press conference was postponed indefinitely.
The election of a new faction leader was necessitated by the resignation of Jens Spahn, who stepped down following pressure relating to the use of a surrogate mother. Freie was appointed following a suggestion from Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). To allow him to concentrate on his duties as faction leader, the Federal President formally relieved him of his responsibilities as Parliamentary State Secretary earlier that day.
