Armin Laschet

Armin Laschet (German: [ˈaʁmiːn ˈlaʃət] ; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2017 to 2021 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2021 to 2022. He was a candidate for Chancellor of Germany in 2021. Laschet earned a law degree and worked as a journalist before and during his early political career. In 1994 he was elected to the Bundestag and in 1999 he became a Member of the European Parliament. In 2005 he entered state politics in North Rhine-Westphalia as a member of the state government. In 2012 he became leader of the state party, and he was elected Prime Minister of the state in 2017. His Cabinet consisted of members of his own CDU and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP). In January 2021, Laschet was elected leader of the CDU, winning 52.8% of delegates votes against Friedrich Merz in the second round of the contest. The result of the election was certified by postal vote of the party conference's delegates with the final result announced on 22 January. It was confirmed on 20 April 2021 that he would be the CDU/CSU candidate for Chancellor of Germany at the 2021 German federal election, after rival Markus Söder conceded. He was born to an observant Roman Catholic family of German-speaking Walloon origin; his father's parents were both of Belgian origin. He is married to Susanne Malangré, whom he met in a Catholic children's choir when they were children and who is a member of a prominent Aachen political family of French-speaking Walloon origin. On 9 February 2024, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from TED University. Laschet is a lecturer for political science at LMU Munich.