Germany gets a new head of state. Even before the election, one thing is certain: It will be the old one. The majority for Federal President Steinmeier in the Federal Assembly is enormous.
Continuity in the highest state office: If the Federal Assembly elects a new Federal President this Sunday, it will in all probability confirm the previous one in office. There is no doubt that Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be re-elected.
The Social Democrat, who has suspended his party affiliation as head of state, is supported by the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP as well as by the CDU/CSU opposition. Their party and parliamentary group leaders have officially proposed the 66-year-old to Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD).
The left is the doctor Gerhard Trabert (65) and the AfD the economist Max Otte (57), who is a member of the CDU. This wants to throw him out of the party because of the candidacy for an AfD ticket. Most recently, the Free Voters nominated the physicist Stefanie Gebauer (41). However, all three have no chance given the majority in the Federal Assembly. SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU/CSU together make up 1223 of the 1472 members. The AfD has 151 and the left has 71 delegates. The Free Voters are represented by 18 electors, the South Schleswig Voters’ Association (SSW) by 2. There are also a few non-attached voters.
Steinmeier has a broad majority behind him
Given these numbers, Steinmeier can expect to be re-elected in the first ballot. This requires an absolute majority of 737 votes. This number of votes would also have to be reached in a second ballot, in the third ballot a simple majority would suffice.
The incumbent not only has a broad majority behind him in the Federal Assembly, but also in the population. In the new ZDF political barometer on Friday, 85 percent of those questioned were of the opinion that Steinmeier was doing a good job as Federal President. 10 percent saw their previous work as rather bad.
Before the Federal Assembly, the individual parliamentary groups will meet for final preparations. Steinmeier introduced himself to the Greens in an online conference on Friday evening. “Frank-Walter Steinmeier is a very good and highly respected Federal President,” said parliamentary group leaders Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge afterwards. “That’s why we recommend our electors in the Federal Assembly to re-elect Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Federal President.”
On Saturday, the Federal President will take part in the parliamentary group meetings of the SPD and CDU/CSU, which will take place in the plenary hall of the Reichstag building. The left and the AfD then meet together with their applicants. Further parliamentary group meetings are scheduled for the Sunday immediately before the start of the Federal Assembly.
Steinmeier was supported five years ago by the Union and SPD, which formed a grand coalition at the time, as well as by the Greens and FDP, and was successful in the first ballot. He received 931 of 1253 votes cast. The former Foreign Minister and SPD parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag competed against four competitors from the Left Party, AfD, Freie Wahlern and the Pirate Party/The Party.
Steinmeier’s first term
In the speech immediately after his election in 2017, Steinmeier called on Germans to encourage others and show this themselves, despite the difficult times. “We are part of a world with its risks, and we also have risks,” Steinmeier said at the time. “But: Hardly anywhere in the world are there more opportunities than here. And who, if not us, can actually be in good spirits?”
Encouragement – that also played an important role in Steinmeier’s first term. For example, he stood up to protect local politicians, who were increasingly exposed to hatred and hate speech. After the outbreak of the corona pandemic, he addressed the public in speeches, video messages and a television address, campaigned for compliance with government countermeasures and asked for patience. He later appealed to her to get vaccinated. Steinmeier repeatedly called for the liberal democracy, which had come under pressure, to be defended – whether against verbal attacks on social networks or, most recently, by aggressive opponents of the state’s corona policy.
On his travels, Steinmeier also liked to support heads of state who, as reformers, represented the values of democracy in the face of resistance in their own country or were looking for a connection to Europe. This applied to the Republic of Moldova with its young President Maia Sandu or to Sudan with its Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, who has since failed.
Steinmeier wants to “heal wounds”
Steinmeier had already announced in May last year that he would be running for a second term. At the time, he justified this by saying that deep rifts had opened up in society during the corona pandemic. «We have rubbed ourselves raw in the argument about the right way. I want to help heal those wounds.”
Steinmeier will only be the fifth Federal President to serve a second term. Theodor Heuss, Heinrich Lübke and Richard von Weizsäcker were each in office for a full ten years. Horst Köhler was re-elected in 2009, but resigned a year later.
The Federal Assembly is bigger than ever. It is made up of the 736 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates who send the 16 state parliaments. The meeting of 1472 people in the midst of the corona pandemic with high numbers of infections presented the Bundestag administration with considerable challenges. Instead of the usual plenary hall of the Reichstag building, the Federal Assembly meets in the neighboring Paul-Löbe-Haus, where many meeting rooms and offices of MPs are located. There’s more space there. However, the electors will be spread over five floors.
Source: Stern
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