2017 German presidential election

German presidential election, 2017

12 February 2017

Nominee Frank-Walter Steinmeier Christoph Butterwegge Albrecht Glaser Party SPD Left AfD   File:Alexander Hold.jpg Nominee Alexander Hold Engelbert Sonneborn Party FW Independent

Incumbent President Joachim Gauck Independent

The next German presidential election (officially the 16th Federal Convention) will, unless the office falls vacant prematurely, be held on 12 February 2017. The election will choose the 12th President of the Federal Republic of Germany; incumbent President Joachim Gauck announced on 6 June 2016 that he will not stand for re-election, citing his advancing age.

The President will be elected by the Federal Convention, an electoral body that consists of all members of the current Bundestag and an equal number of electors, who are elected by the sixteen state parliaments. The President-elect will enter office on 18 March 2017 and will take the oath of office the same day in a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

Composition of the Federal Convention

The Bundesversammlung will presumably be composed as follows (the composition could theoretically change, if members of the Bundestag die or resign before February 12):

Party	Bundestag members	State electors	Total electors	Percentage
CDU/CSU	310	230	540	42.8%
Social Democratic Party	193	191	384	30.5%
Alliance '90/The Greens	63	84	147	11.6%
The Left	64	31	95	7.5%
Alternative for Germany	0	35	35	2.8%
Free Democratic Party	0	36	36	2.8%
Pirate Party	0	11	11	0.9%
Free Voters	0	10	10	0,8%
South Schleswig Voters' Association	0	1	1	0.1%
Brandenburg United Civic Movements/Free Voters	0	1	1	0.1%

In the Federal Convention, a candidate needs a majority (at least 631 votes) to become President. If no candidate gets a majority of votes in the first two ballots, a plurality is sufficient on the third ballot.

Candidates

Every member of the Federal Convention (members of the Bundestag and state electors, once they are elected by their respective state parliament) can propose candidates for the presidency. It is required that the President is a German citizen and at least 40 years old. Every candidate has to declare his consent to running. Candidates can be proposed before the Federal Convention and (theoretically) during the Convention before every ballot. If the President-elect is member of a legislation or a government on federal or state level, he has to resign from that office before the start of his term. A sitting President is not allowed to run for a third consecutive term.

Chancellor Angela Merkel originally wanted to nominate Green politician Marianne Birthler, who succeeded Gauck as the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records from 2001 to 2011, and as the CDU/CSU and the Greens control a majority in the Federal Convention, Birthler's election would have been secured. However, Birthler after some time decided not to run.

On 14 November 2016 the governing parties CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party have named the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Vice Chancellor of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier as their consensus candidate. The Free Democratic Party has endorsed Steinmeier. The other parties will likely either endorse Steinmeier, or name candidates of their own to express discontent with the consensus candidate. In any case Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the clear favorite to win the election, because the parties endorsing his candidacy hold 960 votes in the Federal Convention.

Alternative for Germany has proposed the former treasurer of Frankfurt Albrecht Glaser, and the Free Voters have named the judge and TV celebrity Alexander Hold. Both are widely considered to have no real chance of winning the presidency, because their respective parties have few electors in the Federal Convention and it is unlikely that they will receive endorsements from other parties. On 20 November 2016 the The Left nominated the political scientist Christoph Butterwegge. Martin Sonneborn, member of the satirical party Die PARTEI and state elector (North Rhine-Westphalia) for the Pirate Party has proposed his father, the retired career consultant Engelbert Sonneborn.

Party	Candidate	Previous service / Profession	likely number of electors of the parties endorsing the candidate
Social Democratic Party, endorsed by CDU/CSU, Alliance '90/The Greens, Free Democratic Party	Frank-Walter Steinmeier	Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005-2009 and 2013-2017) and Vice Chancellor of Germany (2007-2009)	1107
Die Linke (The Left)	Christoph Butterwegge	Professor of Political Science at the University of Cologne (since 1998)	95
Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany)	Albrecht Glaser	Treasurer of Frankfurt (Hesse) (1997–2001)	35
Free Voters, endorsed by Brandenburg United Civic Movements/Free Voters	Alexander Hold	Judge and TV celebrity	11
Independent, endorsend by one elector of the Pirate Party	Engelbert Sonneborn	Career consultant	1
Pirate Party, South Schleswig Voters' Association	no candidate named or endorsed as yet		11

Except for Sonneborn, all candidates will be electors in the Federal Convention themselves. Steinmeier is a member of the current Bundestag, Butterwegge and Glaser have been elected as state electors for Saxony and Hold as state elector for Bavaria.