What is January 2021 Christian Democratic Union of Germany leadership election?
{{update|date=May 2023}} The '''2021 Christian Democratic Union leadership election''' is set to take place during the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] party's 33rd Congress. It was set to take place in [[Berlin]] on the 25 April 2020, following [[Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer]]'s decision in February 2020 to resign as Leader of the party.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/forsa.htm|title=Sonntagsfrage – Forsa (Wahlumfragen zur Bundestagswahl)|work=Wahlrecht.de|access-date=2018-10-30|language=de-DE}}</ref> However, the election was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. On 14 September 2020, it was announced that the election would be held as a one-day meeting on 4 December 2020, during which the leadership election would take place.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://af.reuters.com/article/idDEKBN2651CA|title=CDU wählt neuen Vorsitzenden auf eintägigem Parteitag am 4. Dezember|work=[[Reuters]] Africa|date=14 September 2020|access-date=14 September 2020|language=de|archive-date=21 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121062659/https://www.reuters.com/?edition-redirect=af|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October 2020, it was postponed again to 15 and 16 January 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/cdu-parteitag-merz-laschet-1.5093719 | title=CDU-Parteitag in Stuttgart wird wegen Corona abgesagt }}</ref> ==Background== After her announcement, [[Norbert Röttgen]] surprisingly announced on 18 February 2020 his intention to run for the leadership.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/norbert-roettgen-kandidiert-fuer-den-cdu-vorsitz-a-fbe27356-ea2a-4302-b575-c22be7cc8448|title=Norbert Röttgen kandidiert für den CDU-Vorsitz - DER SPIEGEL - Politik|last=SPIEGEL|first=DER|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=18 February 2020 |language=de|access-date=2020-02-26}}</ref> This was followed by a joint announcement on 25 February 2020 by [[Armin Laschet]] and [[Jens Spahn]], in which Spahn endorsed Laschet for the leadershi