Germany is poised to appoint its first female president after Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc nominated veteran politician Ilse Aigner for the country’s largely ceremonial head of state position.
Aigner, 61, presented herself as a unifying figure amid growing political divisions, saying on Monday that she hoped to represent a “strong centre”.
She described the broad political support behind her nomination as “an important signal against populist and extremist forces in our country”.
The president will be elected on January 30 by a special parliamentary assembly tasked with choosing a successor to incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who cannot seek a third five-year term under Germany’s constitution.
The assembly consists of all 630 members of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, alongside an equal number of delegates from the country’s 16 state parliaments.
Aigner is the speaker of Bavaria’s state legislature and belongs to the Christian Social Union (CSU), the smallest of the three parties in Germany’s governing coalition and part of Merz’s conservative bloc.
Her candidacy received formal backing on Monday from leaders of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democrats, making her election appear almost certain.
The governing parties hold a majority in the presidential electoral assembly, while Aigner has also received a positive response from the opposition Greens.
“From my point of view, it is high time for a woman to hold this highest office for the first time,” Merz said when presenting her candidacy.
He also highlighted Aigner’s background as an electrical engineer, saying her appointment would mark another first for Germany’s presidency and reflect “the reality of millions of people in our country” who work in manual occupations.
Aigner has been involved in politics since her late teens and entered Bavaria’s state legislature in 1994. She later served as Germany’s agriculture minister from 2008 to 2013 under former chancellor Angela Merkel.
She subsequently held the posts of Bavaria’s economy minister and transport minister before becoming speaker of the state legislature eight years ago.
Known for her relatively liberal reputation, Aigner supported Germany’s first openly transgender lawmaker in 2019 while serving as parliamentary speaker.
“I am in politics to overcome divisions, bring people together and also reach those who perhaps feel that they stand on the sidelines,” she said, adding that she opposed “every attack on human dignity”.
Since the establishment of Germany’s post-World War II federal republic in 1949, all 12 presidents have been men.
Women have, however, held several other prominent positions in the country. Merkel became Germany’s first female chancellor in 2005 and remained in office until 2021, while four women have served as speaker of the Bundestag, including current speaker Julia Klöckner.
Although Germany’s president is expected to remain above party politics and largely performs ceremonial and representative duties, the office can carry political weight during periods of crisis.
Steinmeier, for instance, played an unusually active role in encouraging rival politicians to form a government following an inconclusive election in 2017.
Germany’s political landscape has since become increasingly turbulent, with growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) making it more difficult to form stable governing coalitions.
The AfD plans to field its own presidential candidate, with co-leader Alice Weidel criticising Aigner’s nomination.
Weidel argued that Aigner had demonstrated on several occasions, in her role as parliamentary speaker, that she was unable to put aside her political affiliations.
