Christian Baldauf is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

 and former opposition leader in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

. He is married and has two children.

Life and work

Baldauf studied law and administrative sciences in Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

 and Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

, and passed his first and second Staatsexamen

Staatsexamen

The ' is a German government licensing examination that future doctors, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists and jurists have to pass to be allowed to work in their profession. The examination is generally organized by government examination agencies which are under the authority of the...

 in 1991 and 1994 respectively. In 1993/94 he was a research associate of Maria Böhmer

Maria Böhmer

Maria Böhmer is a German politician and member of the Bundestag for the CDU. She serves as Minister of State in the German Chancellery.In 1993/94 Christian Baldauf was a research associate to her....

. In 1995 he joined a law firm in Frankenthal

Frankenthal

Frankenthal is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.- History :Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, after the founder, as the Erkenbertruine — still stand today in the town...

, and is now a lawyer and specialist in employment law.

Politics

Baldauf became a member of the CDU in 1983, between 1992-96 he was the chairman of the local Frankenthal chapter of the Junge Union

Junge Union

The Junge Union Deutschlands or JU is the jointyouth organisation of the two conservative German political parties CDU and CSU...

. In 1994 he was elected to the City Council of Frankenthal. From 1999 to February 2007 Baldauf was chairman of the CDU Frankenthal district association, his successor was Sonja Schönherr. In 2001 he won a seat in the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate. After his successful re-election in 2006 he was chairman of the Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

 parliament, and shortly thereafter, the party also elected him as chairman of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate. In September 2008, Baldauf was confirmed by the delegates to the national party congress in the office as chairman of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate.

For the 2011 elections he proposed Julia Klöckner to oppose to the current Ministerpräsident Kurt Beck. However, his party lost the election and Baldauf stepped down as leader of the opposition to make way for Klöckner.