Factbox: Laschet wins German CDU board vote on chancellor candidacy

FILE PHOTO: German Christian Democratic Union Party Leader Armin Laschet briefs the media after a meeting of the party's board at the headquarters in Berlin, Germany, April 12, 2021. Markus Schreiber/Pool via Reuters/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Armin Laschet, leader of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), won the backing of senior party members at an internal meeting to run as the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel at a September federal election, party sources said on Tuesday.

Ahead of the meeting, Markus Soeder, Laschet's Bavarian rival for the conservative candidacy, said it was up to the CDU to decide which of them should run as their bloc's candidate for chancellor, and that he would accept a decision for his rival.