German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has decided to nominate Bavarian politician Ilse Aigner for the position of Germany’s next president. If her nomination is finalized, the 61-year-old politician will become the first woman in German history to hold the office of president.
Merz announced this decision on Sunday during a dinner hosted for leaders of his party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Ilse Aigner currently serves as the Speaker of the Bavarian State Parliament. She is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU)—the Bavarian-based sister party of the CDU. Should her nomination be approved during a joint meeting of the CDU and CSU on Monday, her election as president will be all but certain.
According to German political convention, the parties within the ruling coalition must agree on a single, joint candidate for the presidency. The current government is composed of the CDU, the CSU, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The SPD has previously indicated its support for Aigner for the presidency.
In Germany, the president is elected by a special electoral body known as the Federal Convention, which is convened exclusively for the purpose of electing the president. On January 30, this body will select a successor to the current president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic Party, assumed office in 2017. His second and final five-year term is set to conclude in March 2027.
The office of the German president is primarily ceremonial. The president signs legislation into law and formally appoints government ministers. However, the position offers the opportunity to act neutrally, remaining above partisan politics, while also serving as a symbol of national unity.
Tensions within the coalition over the nomination
Earlier this year, the CSU had proposed Aigner’s name for the presidency. However, as Merz considered an alternative candidate, the CDU delayed its support for her nomination. This created tension in the relationship between the two allied parties.
Aigner entered national politics in 1998 when she was elected as a member of Germany’s federal parliament. Prior to that, she had been involved in local politics.
She served as Minister of Agriculture during the administration of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. Later, she returned to her home state of Bavaria. In 2018, she was elected Speaker of the Bavarian State Parliament—a position she continues to hold.
