A debate is underway about the candidate to replace President Frank-Walter Steinmeier next year. When former Chancellor Angela Merkel's name was put forward, it made the headlines.
Germany will get a new head of state next yearImage: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images
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President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's second term in office ends early next year. The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the environmentalist Greens are campaigning for a woman to succeed him. This would be a first in history: Twelve men have held Germany's top office since the end of World War II.
The Green Party floated the idea to put forward former Chancellor Angela Merkel as a candidate. She was in office for 16 years until 2021 and had high popularity ratings throughout her tenure. Merkel immediately rejected the speculation as "absurd." Political observers explain, that this proposal would also be unlikely to succeed because of the long-standing rivalry and animosity between Merkel and current Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Chancellor Merz told public TV Phoenix last weekend that he would propose a candidate in September. "I want us to elect a person to this office who represents the country in its entirety," Merz said. He did not specify whether this person should be a man or a woman.
September is when the last of this year's five state elections are held. Thereafter, it will become clearer what the makeup of the Federal Convention will be.
Germany's postwar presidents
Germany's president serves as the head of state, but the role is mainly ceremonial. Here is a look back at the 13 individuals who have been the head of state of the Federal Republic of Germany since its founding in 1949.
Image: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2017-current)
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a former foreign minister and chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats (SPD), was supported in his first election by the grand coalition of his party and Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Image: Michael Sohn/AP Photo/picture alliance
Joachim Gauck (2012-2017)
A former Lutheran pastor, Gauck came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. A political independent, after German reunification he was in charge of the archives of East Germany's Stasi secret service and tasked with investigating communist crimes. As son of a Soviet Gulag survivor, his political life was formed by his own family's experiences with totalitarianism
Image: Tim Brakemeier/dpa/picture alliance
Christian Wulff (2010-2012)
Christian Wulf (CDU) was Germany's youngest president to date. He is remembered for a high-profile speech he delivered in which he said that Islam "belongs to Germany" just as do Christianity and Judaism. The former State Premier of Lower Saxony stepped down in the face of corruption allegations, of which he was subsequently cleared.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Horst Köhler (2004 - 2010)
A trained economist, Horst Köhler served as president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before becoming German president. He stepped down over backlash against comments he made about Bundeswehr missions abroad, which he acknowledged also served to secure trade with Germany's partners.
Image: Harry Melchert/dpa/picture-alliance
Johannes Rau (1999 - 2004)
Johannes Rau (SPD) served as premier of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, for ten years. As president, in times of heated political discussion, he urged the nation to open up to foreigners. "I want to be the president for all Germans and the partner for all people who live and work here without a German passport," he said.
Image: Regina Kuehne/KEYSTONE/dpa/picture-alliance
Roman Herzog (1994 - 1999)
The former Supreme Court judge is best known for a speech in 1997 demanding Germans pull themselves together and break the vicious circle of resignation, reform blockade. He is also remembered for asking Poland for forgiveness for the suffering inflicted by Germany in WW2, and declared the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, as Germany's official day of remembrance.
Image: Andreas Altwein/dpa/picture-alliance
Richard von Weizsäcker (1984 - 1994)
In 1985 the CDU politician articulated Germany's responsibility for the crimes of Nazism. He defined May 8 as a "day of liberation" and challenged the idea that many Germans did not know about the Holocaust. "We Germans must look truth straight in the eye – without embellishment and without distortion. [...] There can be no reconciliation without remembrance," he said.
Image: picture-alliance / dpa
Karl Carstens (1979 - 1984)
Karl Carstens (CDU) was born in Bremen, the son of a commercial school teacher, who had been killed before his birth in WWI. Carstens studied law and political science and served in the air force during WWII. In 1940 he joined the Nazi Party, which made him a controversial choice for president. During his term in office he used his love of hiking to tour the country and meet the people.
Image: Heinrich Sanden/dpa/picture-alliance
Walter Scheel (1974-1979)
Scheel was born in Solingen, the son of a handyman. He trained at a bank before he was conscribed by Hitler's Wehrmacht in 1939. After the war, Scheel worked as an economic consultant and joined the neoliberal FDP, which he moved towards an alliance with the SPD. Scheel was seen as jovial and is remembered for landing a hit with his recording of the German folk song "Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen."
Image: dpa/picture alliance
Gustav Heinemann (1969 -1974)
Gustav Walter Heinemann (SPD) served as mayor of Essen, as well as interior and later justice minister before becoming president. He established the tradition of inviting ordinary citizens to the president's New Year's receptions, and in his speeches, he encouraged West Germans to overcome submissiveness to the authorities, to make full use of their democratic rights and to defend the rule of law.
Image: dpa/picture-alliance
Heinrich Lübke (1959 - 1969)
Heinrich Lübke (CDU) is remembered for a series of embarrassing lapses that may have resulted from health issues. Lübke resigned three months before the scheduled end of his second term amid a scandal around his involvement with the Nazi regime during World War II.
Image: Kurt Rohwedder/dpa/picture-alliance
Theodor Heuss (1949-1959)
The liberal Theodor Heuss (FDP) beat Social Democrat leader Kurt Schumacher to become West Germany's first postwar president. Before becoming a politician he was a political journalist. West Germans widely appreciated Heuss for his cordial nature.
Image: Deutsche Post
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How is the president elected?
Germans do not directly elect their president. A special assembly, the Federal Convention, elects the president for a term of five years by secret ballot, without debate. The president can be reelected once.
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This assembly is convened exclusively to select the president. It is made up of the 630 lawmakers from the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, and an equal number of representatives from Germany's 16 federal states. These can be state politicians, but also distinguished citizens such as athletes or artists.
All candidates for the presidency must be German citizens and be at least 40 years old. The candidate who achieves an absolute majority is elected. If no candidate has received this level of support in two rounds of voting, a third and final vote is held, in which the candidate who wins a relative majority of votes is elected.
The federal government names a candidate for the highest office. Although the chancellor, the head of government, formally ranks behind the head of state and the president of the Bundestag (currently Julia Klöckner, CDU), his office is the most powerful in the German state.
Former Agriculture Minister and current Bundestag President Julia Klöckner is seen as a divisive figureImage: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance
Klöckner or Aigner?
Speaking of Julia Klöckner: The name of the combative president of the German parliament is mentioned again and again as a possible candidate for the presidency. But Klöckner is unpopular with the center-left Social Democrats, junior coalition partner to Merz's conservative bloc of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU). The socialist Left Party and the Greens are also critical of Klöckner, who is often accused of polarizing.
Ilse Aigner, a member of the CSU who has been president of the Bavarian state parliament for eight years, would have a better chance of gaining approval, even among her political rivals. She has proven that she can build bridges across party lines. Her disadvantage: If she were to become head of state, the chances of CSU party leader, Bavaria's Premier Markus Söder, ever becoming chancellor would drop to zero. Two top posts on the national level for the CDU's small conservative sister party would be unacceptable to many.
Also a former Agriculture Minister under Angela Merkel, Ilse Aigner has presided over the Bavarian parliament for eight yearsImage: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance/dpa
A candidate with Jewish roots?
Federal Minister of Education, Karin Prien (CDU), is frequently touted as a possible candidate. She would be the first person with Jewish roots at the helm of the state. Her grandparents survived the Holocaust.
Her candidacy would therefore send a bold signal in times of growing antisemitism in Germany. However, she represents the progressive wing of the conservative CDU, and therefore is unlikely to gain majority support within the party under its conservative chairman, Friedrich Merz.
Karin Prien is currently serving as Federal Minister for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and YouthImage: dts Nachrichtenagentur/IMAGO
An artist for President?
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann has suggested seeking a candidate outside professional politics.
Juli Zeh's name has been put forward again. The well-known writer and doctor of international law was born in the western city of Bonn, but moved to the eastern state of Brandenburg twenty years ago. She has administrative experience as an honorary constitutional judge in her state and is a member of the SPD. Her novel "Unterleuten" depicts a village in eastern Germany where plans for the construction of new wind turbines become a dividing issue.
Author Juli Zeh's name has been floated as a possible candidate for presidentImage: ulrike blitzner/rtn/picture alliance
"I can actually imagine it at some point in the future. But not now, because I wouldn't be able to balance the double burden of work and family," Juli Zeh told the newspaper Die Zeit."We need someone who is not clearly assigned to one camp in this so-called polarization. In terms of personality profile, I could fit in quite well."
With just under a year to go before the election of Germany's new head of state, speculation is rife. Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) still have a few months to find a suitable candidate.
Steinmeier: 'Let's not allow ourselves to be driven apart'
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This article was originally written in German.
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