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German state Baden-Wuerttemberg elects new premier
Feb 10, 2010, 11:36 GMT
Stuttgart - The German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg elected a new premier, Stefan Mappus, 43, on Wednesday - replacing Guenther Oettinger, who is moving to Brussels as European Commissioner.
Mappus becomes the youngest premier running any of the 16 German states.
In a secret ballot in the Stuttgart legislature Mappus - who heads the state caucus of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - won 83 of the 137 votes cast.
Bordering Switzerland, Baden-Wuerttemberg is among Germany's richest regions, home to Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars.
Mappus, a blunt-talking economist who holds an amateur pilot's licence, heads a coalition of the CDU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the same alliance that runs Germany at federal level under Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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