Soeder backs Laschet as German conservative chancellor candidate

I told him that we as the CSU accept it. We offered him our full support. We will support him without a grudge and with all our power."

The leader of Germany's southern state of Bavaria on Tuesday backed his rival Armin Laschet as the chancellor candidate of their conservative bloc to replace Angela Merkel after a general election in September.

"The die is cast: Armin Laschet will be the chancellor candidate of the Union," Markus Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) Bavarian sister party of Laschet's Christian Democrats (CDU) told a news conference.

"The CDU met yesterday and decided. We accept that, and I respect that," Soeder said, ending a damaging rift in the CDU/CSU alliance known as 'the Union.' "I called Armin Laschet and congratulated him. I told him that we as the CSU accept it. We offered him our full support. We will support him without a grudge and with all our power."