Armin Laschet wins battle to lead Angela Merkel's bloc in German election April 20, 2021 at 12:35AM

Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany's most populous state, on Tuesday won a bruising power struggle to become the candidate of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right bloc for chancellor in the September election. Laschet, 60, now faces another big battle: to connect with voters and win over frustrated fellow conservatives who backed his more popular rival, Markus Soeder.