CDU leader Friedrich Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder have agreed to nominate Chancellery Chief of Staff Thorsten Frei as the next head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, settling the succession race after Jens Spahn's resignation last week over a surrogacy controversy.
The official election is set for a special faction meeting next Wednesday in Berlin, with Alexander Hoffmann continuing in an interim capacity until then. Frei's own replacement at the Chancellery will not be announced until the following week.
Spahn stepped down after informing his party "far too late" about his child born via surrogate in the United States, while publicly defending the party's opposition to the practice. Separately, a latest poll for Bild shows the AfD leading at 29 percent, with the CDU/CSU trailing at 21 percent.