Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the CPSU, who was also a Politburo member, was the leader of the Secretariat and of the Party. Dual membership in the Secretariat and the Politburo was in practice reserved for two or three very senior members of the Soviet leadership, and in the post-Stalin era (after March 1953) was a stepping-stone to ultimate power. The last five Soviet leaders (Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and Mikhail Gorbachev) were all senior Secretaries before becoming First or General Secretaries. Additionally, Georgy Malenkov was briefly reckoned as the leader of the Party for a week after Stalin's death by
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union Leader of the Christian Democratic Union The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union ("Vorsitzender der Christlich Demokratischen Union") is the most senior political figure within the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Since 7 December 2018, the office has been held by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer who is the second female leader of the party, following her immediate predecessor Angela Merkel. The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union Party is supported by a General Secretary who, since 2018, has been Paul Ziemiak. Furthermore, the leader is supported by five deputy leaders: these currently are Ursula von der Leyen, Volker Bouffier, Julia Klöckner, Armin