EXPLAINED | Germany Had Angela Merkel. How Could Ilse Aigner Be Its First Woman President?

Germany’s governing conservatives nominated Ilse Aigner for president on November 9. Aigner, 61, is the speaker of Bavaria’s state parliament and a former minister under Angela Merkel. With backing from the Social Democrats and the Greens, she is the favourite to win the January 30 vote and become the first woman to hold the presidency since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949.

How could Aigner be the first after Merkel?

Merkel led Germany’s government as chancellor from 2005 to 2021. The chancellor sets government policy and leads the cabinet. The president is the head of state, representing Germany at home and abroad and carrying out duties set by the constitution. Friedrich Merz now holds the job Merkel had. Aigner is in line for the one Steinmeier holds.

Who is Ilse Aigner?

Before politics, Aigner trained as a radio and television technician and worked in her family’s electrical business in Bavaria. She qualified as an electrical engineering technician and spent four years developing helicopter electrical systems at Eurocopter. She served in Bavaria’s state parliament before winning a seat in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house, in 1998.

From 2008 to 2013, Aigner was Merkel’s minister for food, agriculture and consumer protection. In 2010 she wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over the company’s handling of users’ data, then announced she would leave the platform after meeting a company representative. Back in Bavaria, she served as deputy head of the state government and held portfolios including the economy and energy. She has chaired the state parliament since 2018.

Why does she have such broad support?

Aigner is a senior figure in the Christian Social Union, or CSU. It operates in Bavaria and works alongside Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, in national politics. Their coalition partner, the Social Democrats, backs her, and the Greens’ parliamentary leadership has urged its members to support her. That gives Aigner backing beyond the parties that govern together.

Aigner used her nomination appearance to warn about extremism and the erosion of political compromise. Her warning came as mainstream parties contend with the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD. The Greens’ leadership made its own case for backing her in terms of strengthening the democratic centre across party lines.

Who actually votes for Germany’s president?

A special body called the Federal Convention elects the president. Every member of the Bundestag gets a vote. Germany’s 16 state parliaments together choose an equal number of delegates. Those delegates can include people from outside politics. The convention meets for the presidential election and votes by secret ballot.

A candidate needs votes from more than half of the convention’s members in either of the first two rounds. If the contest goes to a third round, whoever gets the most votes wins. Party backing makes Aigner the favourite, and the secret ballot leaves delegates free to make their own choice.

Have women come close before?

Yes. In 2004, the Social Democrats’ candidate, academic Gesine Schwan, received 589 votes to conservative-backed Horst Köhler’s 604. He cleared the winning threshold by one vote. Schwan ran again in 2009 and lost to Köhler a second time. The difference with Aigner is the breadth of the parties lining up behind her before the vote.

Why did Germany give the president a smaller role?

The people who wrote Germany’s postwar constitution in 1949 wanted a stronger parliament. Under the earlier Weimar Republic, the president could appoint and dismiss the chancellor and govern through emergency decrees. The new constitution shifted power towards the Bundestag. Today, the president proposes a candidate for chancellor, and the Bundestag elects one.

What can the president actually do?

The president signs federal legislation, and formally appoints ministers on the chancellor’s proposal. The president also uses speeches and public appearances to draw attention to issues without setting government policy.

One of the office’s most consequential powers comes into play when a government loses its majority. In December 2024, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote. Steinmeier consulted parliamentary groups, concluded there was no majority for an alternative government, and dissolved the Bundestag at Scholz’s request. That cleared the way for an early election in February 2025.

Is the office anything like India’s presidency?

The familiar part is the division between the head of state and the head of government. India’s president is also elected indirectly. In India, elected members of both houses of Parliament and elected members of state assemblies, including those of Delhi and Puducherry, vote. Germany brings together lower-house MPs and a separate group of delegates chosen by state parliaments. India reached its own milestone in July 2007, when Pratibha Patil took office as the country’s first woman president.

When could Aigner take office?

The Federal Convention votes in Berlin on January 30, 2027. Steinmeier’s second five-year term ends on March 18, so if Aigner wins, she is due to take office in March. The January ballot will show whether the parties’ public backing carries through to the secret vote.