Germany to elect new president

By Euronews

Published on 12/02/2017 - 00:38•Updated 09/12/2019 - 10:08

Former German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier is today expected to be elected as the country’s next president.

The new head of state – who’ll have little executive power – will take over from 77-year-old Joachim Gauck, who ruled out running for a second term because of his age.

The president is picked by a special parliamentary assembly, made up of 1,260 members.

Steinmeier – a Social Democrat – has the backing of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “grand coalition” of centre-right and centre-left parties.

Merkel could not find an appropriate conservative who wanted to run for the post.

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German politics