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Germany today elected a new head of state. The current president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was re-elected to this post for a second term. In the highest state office he was elected for the first time in 2017.
The Federal Assembly re-elected today in Berlin Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Federal President of Germany. This is Steinmeier’s second term. He was nominated for the new term by the ruling SPD, Green and FDP parties, as well as the CDU / CSU opposition. Together, they had a large majority in the Federal Assembly.
Frank Walter Steinmeier was elected to this post with 1045 votes. Out of 1437 votes cast, 1425 were valid, 12 invalid, 86 abstentions.
Steinmeier accepted the choice and thanked. He expressed respect for the co-candidates for the post of Federal President. He said he would be a supra-party president, but not neutral, when it comes to democracy. He who is committed to democracy, has me on his side, he who is against it, is against me, he said.
Steinmeier said there could be much discussion about the causes of the cold between Russia and the West. But, he added, “we are in the middle of a risk of a war and Russia is responsible for that.” The German president said the march of Russian troops is a threat to Ukraine. No country in the world has the right to destroy a country’s right to live in peace.
Do not underestimate the power of democracy
Do not underestimate the power of democracy, Steinmeier said in addressing President Putin. Addressing the Lithuanians, Poles, Slovaks, Romanians, the German President said that “you can count on us, we are part of NATO without any ambiguity, we declare in support of the obligations in this alliance”.
Steinmeier said he would work to overcome the scourges in society caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He said he would debate, but the red line is hatred and violence.
Against Steinmeier competed for the Left Gerhard Trabert, who received 96 votes, economist Max Otte, a member of the CDU, for the AfD, who received 140 votes. The Free Voters (Freie Wähler) fielded physicist Stefanie Gebauer, who received 58 votes.
In her opening remarks, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas said, referring to the corona pandemic, that this Federal Assembly showed that the German state can function even in difficult conditions. She wants from society a respectful behavior for each other. Everyone should play by the rules of the game, everyone has the right to think that the corona measures are too harsh. But he who does not obey the law violates it. The majority is not automatically right, but neither is the minority. “We have to allow a contest of arguments, democracy lives by openness,” Bas said.
The head of the German state is not directly elected by the citizens, but by the Federal Assembly. The Federal Assembly is the largest parliamentary body in Germany, whose sole mission is to elect the head of state every five years. It consists of members of the German Bundestag and an equal number of people sent by the 16 regional parliaments. With the Bundestag currently 736 deputies, the Federal Assembly had 1,472 voters this time – a number not previously reached.
An electoral body composed of personalities
The 2022 Federal Assembly also included former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who went public for the first time since the end of her term. Zgjedhzlem Türeci, co-founder of the Mainz-based COVID vaccine company, BioNTech, and virologist Christian Drosten also took part in the election. Culture, sports and science personalities such as astronaut Alexander Gerst, actress Fritzi Haberlandt, cabaret artist Dieter Nuhr and music star Roland Kaiser were also part of the assembly.
During his political career, Steinmeier served particularly as head of the chancellery under Gerhard Schröder, leader of the SPD group in the Bundestag and foreign minister under Angela Merkel. The 66-year-old is the fifth federal president running for a second term. In February 2017, he took over the top state post from his non-partisan predecessor Joachim Gauck./ DW
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