German agriculture minister wins nomination for premier of Bavaria

BERLIN, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer won nomination on Wednesday for premier of Germany's southern state of Bavaria after the withdrawal of his two rivals for the post.

Seehofer won 88 percent of the votes in a party meeting of the Christian Social Union (CSU) on Wednesday after his two rivals Joachim Herrmann and Thomas Gopel gave up their candidacies on Tuesday, according to German news agency DPA.

The position was opened because of Guenther Beckstein's departure as he thought he could not get enough support within the CSU to lead a future coalition government in the state of Bavaria.

On Sept. 28, the CSU saw its share of the vote in the state of Bavaria plummet to just 43.6 percent from 60.7 percent it won at the last state election in 2003, forcing it to seek a coalition partner for the first time since 46 years ago.

The plummet happened to the CSU was regarded as a "political earthquake" in Germany as political analysts saw the Bavarian vote also a setback for German Chancellor Merkel, who relied heavily on the CSU to win her slim majority in the last national election in 2005.