CSU backs Ilse Aigner to succeed Steinmeier as German president
Söder is set to put forward the Bavarian parliament speaker at the CSU congress next weekend, Bild am Sonntag reported. The vote is on Jan. 30.
Archive image · Photo: Michael Lucan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
Bavaria's Christian Social Union is openly backing Ilse Aigner to succeed President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. According to Bild am Sonntag, party leader Markus Söder plans to present the speaker of the Bavarian state parliament as a candidate in his speech at the party congress in Munich next weekend. European People's Party chief Manfred Weber (CSU) was quoted as saying the party stood united behind her and that clarity, not long personnel debates, was needed.
The Federal Convention meets on Jan. 30. If elected, Aigner would be the first woman and the first CSU politician to hold the office. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the CDU leader, is expected to comment at a CDU leadership meeting in early November, the report said. Other names mentioned include Hesse premier Boris Rhein, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and former constitutional judge Udo Di Fabio. The Social Democrats mainly want a woman.
In an Insa poll for the paper, 27% said Aigner was suitable, 30% said she was not and 43% had no opinion. Among conservative voters, 47% considered her suitable. Some 28% want a woman as head of state, while 55% said gender did not matter.