Leader of Merkel's party vows to boost German voters' trust

Leader of Merkel's party vows to boost German voters' trust

SeattlePI.com

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BERLIN (AP) — The new leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party pledged Tuesday to restore voters' confidence after discontent over Germany's pandemic management and a scandal over lawmakers enriching themselves in mask-procurement deals led to a sharp drop in its approval ratings.

Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany's most populous state, won the leadership of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union in January. He hopes to succeed Merkel as chancellor, but the center-right Union bloc dominated by the CDU hasn't yet decided on its candidate for the Sept. 26 national election.

He hasn't enjoyed a honeymoon. This month, the CDU suffered bad losses in two state elections, while national polls have shown the Union giving up gains it made on the strength of Merkel's management of the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

That hasn't been helped by allegations that several lawmakers from the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, profited from business deals last year as Germany scrambled to secure masks. Some of those lawmakers have left their parties.

“Mistakes in pandemic management and some personal wrongdoing, selfishness in our own ranks, have led to confidence in the reliability and the capability of the Union as a whole sinking,” Laschet said. “I say today: We will change that, we will do better. I will take personal responsibility for that.”

German officials are banking on an increase in vaccine supplies after Easter to speed up the country's so-far sluggish vaccination campaign. However, there are differences on how to respond to the current increase in infections. While Merkel advocates reversing some recent relaxations of restrictions, Laschet and others favor using rapid tests to keep shops and other facilities open.

Laschet's speech Tuesday came as he launched the...

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