German opposition party to announce leadership ballot result

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, is set to announce the results of a ballot on who will become its new leader after a painful election defeat. Armin Laschet, the CDU’s leader since January, is stepping down after leading the Union bloc, which the CDU dominates, to its worst-ever election result in September. It was narrowly beaten by the center-left Social Democrats of new Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The party decided to hold a ballot of its entirely roughly 400,000-strong membership, a first for the CDU. There are three contenders, and if none wins more than 50% of the vote a runoff ballot is planned.