German Chancellor and Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union Friedrich Merz will nominate Ilse Aigner as a candidate for president of the country. The decision was announced at a dinner with members of the CDU leadership, while formal approval is expected at the party’s meetings on Monday.
According to German media, Merz said he would submit Aigner’s candidacy to the party leadership. Following the meetings, he and the Bavarian politician are expected to make a joint statement. Until the CDU bodies reach a final decision, the candidacy has not yet been formally approved.
Germany’s first woman at the helm
Ilse Aigner is a politician from the CSU and president of the Bavarian Landtag. She served as federal minister of agriculture in Angela Merkel’s government from 2008 to 2013. If elected, Aigner will become the first woman to hold the office of federal president in the history of the Federal Republic.
Her candidacy was supported by a number of CDU and CSU representatives, including Bavarian Minister-President and CSU Chairman Markus Söder. Support also came from outside the conservative bloc. SPD Chairman Lars Klingbeil said that his party would support Aigner if she were officially nominated, describing her as a politician with “exceptional unifying power”.
Green Party parliamentary group co-chair Britta Haßelmann also expressed a positive view of the candidacy. She said that Aigner had conducted herself in an “approachable and respectful” manner in her political roles to date. The Greens consider it right for Germany to elect a woman to the country’s highest office for the first time.
The election will take place in January
The new president will be elected by the Federal Convention on January 30, 2027. The current head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is completing his second term and cannot run for a third.
The Left Party criticized the procedure that led to Aigner’s candidacy. According to its parliamentary leader Heidi Reichinnek, a cross-party candidate representing a broader section of German society would have been more appropriate.
If the CDU formally approves Aigner and the support of the SPD and the Greens remains in place, she will enter the election with broad parliamentary backing. The final vote will be held in the Federal Convention in January.
Sources: handelsblatt.com, bild.de, sueddeutsche.de