Germany: Friedrich Merz won the German election

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz won the German election Sunday and is on track to take the reins of the EU’s largest economy. teleSUR

Transcript

00:00Let's now take a closer look at the CDU candidate that led the election and now hopes to become

00:05Germany's Chancellor.

00:07Friedrich Merz is a 69-year-old Christian Democrat who represents Germany's richest

00:11and most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, where he was born.

00:17To this moment, he has never held a government role, despite having aspired to the highest

00:21office in Berlin for over 20 years.

00:23Longtime rival of Centris, former Chancellor Angela Merkel, within the CDU party, Merz

00:28was twice rejected as her successor as party leader, both in 2018 and 2021.

00:35Merz left politics for a lucrative second career at the world's largest asset management

00:39corporation, BlackRock, in 2016 and also served on many corporate boards, which made him a

00:47millionaire.

00:48Regarding future policy, he has pledged to scrap unemployment benefits and easier citizenship

00:54and to introduce tougher border controls.

00:57Despite pledging to kill off the far-right AfD, he has already sought its support on

01:02migration clampdown.