Ilse Aigner: The first CDU prime ministers are in favor of a CSU politician as Federal President

Thuringia's Mario Voigt and Saxony's Michael Kretschmer are the first CDU prime ministers to support the Bavarian state parliament president as the Union's candidate.

“I assume and hope that Ilse Aigner will be our common candidate for the Union on Monday,” said Kretschmer. The debate must come to an end. The candidate should have broad support across party lines. The office of Federal President is not the subject of party political tactics. "It's about a personality who can bring our country together."

Voigt had previously told “Stern”: “I know from experience and from working together for over 20 years that she ticks like someone Germany needs right now. She has what it takes to be Federal President.” Voigt said Aigner was a woman who could unite the country. She is “close” and has worked her way up. "I think it's a story that can be used quite well in the country."

CSU brought Aigner into conversation

The CSU had already brought Aigner into discussions in April and decided on her at their party conference in Munich almost two weeks ago. The SPD and the Greens have also expressed sympathy for the 61-year-old CSU politician. Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke from the SPD, for example, also spoke out in favor of Aigner. "Ilse Aigner has everything that makes a good Federal President," Woidke told the news magazine "Politico": "If Ilse Aigner is proposed, I would be very happy."

Now all that matters is what the CDU does. And the prime ministers and the other state chairmen of the CDU play the decisive role. Because half of the voters in the Federal Assembly, which will decide on Steinmeier's successor on January 30th, come from the federal states. The CDU, CSU and SPD have a majority of around 50 votes.

In the 77-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany there has never been a female federal president. All twelve previous heads of state were men. There has never been a Federal President who came from the CSU. Six came from the CDU, three from the SPD, two from the FDP and one, Joachim Gauck, was non-party.