Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended the election of a woman for the presidency of Germany, an honorary position which has so far been occupied by men. The proposal comes at a time when the presidential elections are near.
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02/11/2026
by
Lusa
O chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his support for the election of a woman to the presidency of Germany, an essentially honorable position which has so far always been occupied by men.
“My decision is made on one point: it has to be a woman,” said the leader of the German government, according to sources of his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
“I will propose to the party (...) a central candidate,” said Friedrich Merz during a closed meeting with local CDU leaders. He did not mention names, according to the same sources cited by the agency France-Presse (AFP).
Currently, the position of federal president, a representative function, but also of moral authority, is occupied by social democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier since 2017.
The German President is elected by an assembly of some 1,260 voters, composed mostly of parliamentarians from the two chambers of Parliament (Bundestag and Bundesrat), as well as some representatives of civil society.
The next election is scheduled for January 30th.
The CDU is the largest party in this House. By joining his Bavarian brother party, the CSU, and the Social Democrats, the two parties with which Merz maintains a coalition, the coalition holds the majority.
Among the women mentioned within the CDU as possible candidates for the presidency are the President of the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner, the Minister of Education, Karin Prien, the former President of the Party and former Minister of Defence, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, and the chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in Hesse (central of the country), Ines Claus.
The CSU has already proposed the chairman of the Bavarian regional Parliament, Ilse Aigner, to succeed President Steinmeier.