The initial situation
The Chancellor's decision in favor of Ilse Aigner was no longer eagerly awaited. But now Friedrich Merz has officially said yes to the CSU politician and the candidate who was unelected for weeks has now become the Union's chosen candidate for the Federal President's office. Despite all the Chancellor's criticism of the tough decision-making process: former CDU Chancellors such as Helmut Kohl and Chancellor Angela Merkel also had difficulty with the nominations.
Given the broad support, Aigner's election to the Federal Assembly is almost certain. The coalition parties CDU, CSU and SPD have a majority of around 50 votes. The Greens also signaled their sympathy for Aigner.
What is the Federal Assembly?
It is the largest parliamentary body in the Federal Republic of Germany - and it only has one task: to elect the Federal President. The assembly generally only meets every five years. Next year it will be January 30th, on this day the committee will elect the successor to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is leaving office after ten years as Federal President. There is no debate in the Federal Assembly; elections take place without discussion.
The Federal Assembly consists of all members of the Bundestag and the same number of members who are elected by the people's representatives of the states. According to this, the assembly comprises a total of 1,260 members, i.e. 630 members of the Bundestag and 630 members appointed by the state parliaments.
Who do countries send?
That is not fixed. The federal states are currently appointing their electors. How many representatives the individual states are allowed to send to the Federal Assembly is calculated based on their population numbers. They are named according to the majority of the parliamentary groups in the respective state parliaments. Most of the time these are members of the state parliament, but local politicians and personalities from other areas of public life can also receive a mandate, for example athletes or actors.
Are there already names circulating for the Federal Assembly?
Yes. The CDU in Schleswig-Holstein wants to send former Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Federal Assembly to elect the Federal President next year. Merkel already knows the procedure: The CDU politician was sent into the race by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2022.
In addition, Federal Education Minister Karin Prien and Prime Minister Daniel Günther as well as former handball star Patrick Wiencek are to elect the next head of state for the CDU.
For Saxony, Holocaust survivor Renate Aris, State Parliament President Alexander Dierks and Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (both CDU) as well as Social Affairs Minister Petra Köpping and Economics Minister Dirk Panter (both SPD) are expected to take part. The Leipzig writer Martina Hefter will also be there. The Saxon BSW parliamentary group nominated the journalist and former Tagesschau spokesman Constantin Schreiber.
Not yet. But that is to be expected. The AfD wants to put forward its own candidate, a man “from the middle of society,” as the party says. However, he is considered to have no chance because of the clear majority in the Federal Assembly.
The Left Party has not yet decided for or against its own candidacy.
Why have there only been men as heads of state so far?
Good question. There have been twelve men in the 77 years of the Federal Republic, but never a woman in the highest German state office. Recently there have been increasing demands to finally change something here. Chancellor Merz made his decision at the beginning of November when he spoke out in favor of a woman as Steinmeier's successor - at this point it already came down to Ilse Aigner.
But there were already female candidates for the office of Federal President?
Yes, there has been no shortage of interesting candidates in the history of the Federal Republic. But they had one thing in common: they were only ever sent into the race by parties that had no prospect of a majority in the Federal Assembly. A selection: Annemarie Renger (SPD, 1979), Luise Rinser (Greens, 1984), Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (FDP, 1994), Dagmar Schipanski (CDU, 1999) or Beate Klarsfeld (independent, 2012). Gesine Schwan ran twice, the SPD politician was defeated in 2004 and 2009.
When does the term of office of the new head of state begin?
The term begins on March 19th. Steinmeier will then be in office until March 18th. If Aigner is actually elected on January 30th, she still has a few weeks to prepare before she becomes the first woman to take office.
However, she won't be moving into Bellevue Palace for the time being: it's a construction site. Federal President Steinmeier has been living in alternative quarters since the summer.
