Aigner for president? Söder presses Merz as CDU asserts its own claim
At the CSU party congress, Söder again backed Ilse Aigner to succeed President Steinmeier. The CDU reportedly wants its own candidate, while the SPD and Greens want a woman as head of state.
Archive image · Photo: Michael Lucan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
Bavarian CSU leader Markus Söder on Friday again promoted state parliament speaker Ilse Aigner as Germany's next federal president at his party's congress in Munich. He said he would wholeheartedly wish her the post, adding that the decision would be made elsewhere, and urged applauding delegates to repeat the ovation for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who addresses the congress on Saturday.
The Federal Convention elects Frank-Walter Steinmeier's successor on Jan. 30. The governing coalition had planned to decide after the autumn state elections but has yet to name a candidate. Citing party sources, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Merz's CDU claims the right to put forward its own candidate and no longer wants to be pressured by Söder. Aigner is the only woman among the serious contenders and is seen as likely acceptable to the Social Democrats.
"For me it is clear that a woman should take this office," Dirk Wiese, chief whip of the Social Democrats' parliamentary group, told ZDFheute. Greens parliamentary leader Britta Hasselmann said the time for a woman was "more than ripe." The far-right AfD plans to field its own candidate, while the Left Party has not decided.