Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc nominated Ilse Aigner to become Germany's first female president. She is expected to succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier in March. Aigner is due to be elected on January 30 by the Federal Convention. This role carries significant constitutional powers, which could become important as political polarisation grows in Germany.
Bavarian conservative Ilse Aigner expected to succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier in March
Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc has nominated a Bavarian politician to become Germany's first female president at a time of deepening polarisation in the country.
The German chancellor's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have agreed to put forward Ilse Aigner, president of Bavaria's regional parliament, to succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier. A former Social Democratic foreign minister under Angela Merkel, Steinmeier is due to step down in March at the end of his second and final five-year term.
Aigner is due to be elected on January 30 by the Federal Convention, a special assembly convened solely to choose Germany's head of state. It brings together the Bundestag's 630 members and an equal number of delegates selected by the country's 16 state parliaments.
Germany's constitution gives the president a largely ceremonial role, representing the country abroad, attending commemorations and hosting foreign leaders and monarchs.
But the office also carries significant constitutional powers that could become increasingly important amid rising support for the far-right Alternative for Germany. The president can refuse to sign legislation on constitutional grounds and plays a crucial role in government transitions, formally appointing the chancellor and, in certain circumstances, dissolving parliament.
If elected, Aigner, 61, would become the first CSU member to take up residence at Schloss Bellevue, the 18th-century palace on the edge of Berlin's Tiergarten park. A party member since the 1980s and a trained electrical technician, she served as agriculture minister under Merkel from 2008 to 2013 before holding several senior ministerial posts in her native Bavaria.
Although any party can nominate a candidate, Germany's main political parties have traditionally sought to agree on a consensus figure, usually proposed by the largest parliamentary force. Both the Social Democrats, Merz's junior coalition partner, and the opposition Greens have signalled their support for Aigner, giving her enough backing to win an absolute majority in the first round of voting, although the secret ballot leaves room for defections.
Aigner, whose parents ran an electrical business, is regarded as close to Bavaria's premier Markus Söder, who has backed her candidacy. Two CDU insiders said Aigner's elevation to the presidency would put an end to recent speculation that Söder might seek to replace the deeply unpopular Merz as chancellor.
Although the CDU and CSU operate as a single parliamentary group in the Bundestag and form an alliance at federal level, they remain separate parties. It would be politically inconceivable for the CSU to hold both the presidency and the chancellorship, the insiders said.