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Merz’s conservatives poised to nominate Germany’s first woman president
POLITICO.eu • • world
Key Points:
- Ilse Aigner, a Bavarian politician and current president of the Bavarian State Parliament, is set to become Germany’s first female president, nominated by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc and the center-left SPD.
- Aigner previously served as agriculture minister under Angela Merkel and is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
- The nomination will be officially announced on Monday, with the presidential election scheduled for January 30, 2027, following the end of Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s second term.
- The German presidency is largely ceremonial, with the chancellor holding the primary policy-making power; Aigner has received support from prominent SPD and Green politicians.
- Markus Söder, Bavaria’s CSU premier, first suggested Aigner as a candidate, highlighting the CSU’s historical dominance in Bavarian politics despite never having produced a German chancellor or president before.
