2022 German presidential election

2022 German presidential election

← 2017 13 February 2022 2027 →
 
Nominee Frank-Walter Steinmeier Max Otte
Party SPD CDU
Home state Berlin North Rhine-Westphalia
Electoral vote 1,045 140
Percentage 78.04% 10.45%
Nominators SPD, CDU/CSU, Grüne, FDP, SSW AfD

 
Nominee Gerhard Trabert Stefanie Gebauer
Party Independent FW
Home state Rhineland-Palatinate Brandenburg
Electoral vote 96 58
Percentage 7.17% 4.33%
Nominators Left FW, BVB/FW

President before election

Frank-Walter Steinmeier
SPD

Elected President

Frank-Walter Steinmeier
SPD

An indirect presidential election (officially the 17th Federal Convention) was held in Germany on 13 February 2022 to elect the next president of Germany.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the high number of delegates, the meeting took place in the Paul-Löbe-Haus [de], spread over several floors, unlike its usual location in the plenary hall of the Bundestag.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier became the first Social Democrat to be re-elected as president.

Background

The German Basic Law, the Grundgesetz, mandates that presidential elections must be held no later than thirty days before the sitting President's term ends, unless the presidency falls vacant prematurely.

On 19 March 2017 Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democratic Party, who was elected by the 16th Federal Convention on 12 February 2017, entered office and started his first five-year term as president. Therefore, the next Federal Convention could not convene later than 16 February 2022. The Bundestag's Council of Elders scheduled the 17th Federal Convention for 13 February 2022. If Steinmeier's term had ended prematurely, the Federal Convention would have met no later than thirty days after the start of the vacancy and the President of the Bundesrat would have become acting president in the interim.

Composition of the Federal Convention

The Federal Convention consists of all the members of the current Bundestag (736 members) and an equal number of state electors, allocated to the sixteen states of Germany in proportion to their population. The state electors are elected by the state parliaments.

The composition of the Federal Convention:

Party Bundestag members State electors Total electors Percentage
SPD 206 185 391 26.56%
CDU 152 199 351 23.84%
Grüne 118 115 233 15.83%
FDP 92 62 154 10.46%
AfD 80 72 152 10.33%
CSU 45 49 94 6.39%
Die Linke 39 32 71 4.82%
FW 0 18 18 1.22%
SSW 1 1 2 0.14%
LKR 0 1 1 0.07%
Other 3 2 5 0.34%
Total 736 736 1472 100%

As is common for the state-nominated delegates of the constitutional convention, a number of non-politicians - some of them celebrities - are nominated by various parties. During the 17th Federal Convention, virologists Sandra Ciesek and Christian Drosten are both among the members as is infectious disease specialist Marylyn Addo, all of whom came to broader public prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Baden-Württemberg, the SPD and FDP (both in opposition at the state level) agreed to nominate a joint list with 13 members proposed by the SPD and 12 by the FDP.

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 be a German citizen and at least 40 years old. Every candidate has to declare their consent to running. Candidates can be proposed before the Federal Convention and (theoretically) during the convention before every ballot. If the president-elect is a member of a legislature or a government at the federal or state level, they have to resign from that office before the start of their term. A sitting president is not allowed to run for a third consecutive term.

Declared candidates

  • Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), President of Germany (since 2017), former Vice Chancellor of Germany (2007–2009), former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs (2005–2009 and 2013–2017), was constitutionally eligible for reelection; on 28 May 2021 he declared his candidacy for a second term. The leaders of SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens, FDP, CDU/CSU and SSW all expressed their support for Steinmeier.
  • Gerhard Trabert (independent, nominated by The Left), professor of social medicine and social psychiatry at the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences since 2009. He did not receive any endorsement other than that of The Left.
  • Max Otte (CDU, nominated by AfD), economist, publicist, political activist, and former professor of quantitative and qualitative business analysis and diagnosis at the University of Graz (2011–2016). He did not receive any endorsement other than that of AfD. In reaction to Otte accepting the nomination, the CDU suspended his party membership. On 3 August 2022, some five months after the election, Otte was formally expelled from the CDU as a direct result of Otte accepting the nomination.
  • Stefanie Gebauer (FW), astrophysicist and chairwoman of Kremmen city council. She did not receive any endorsement other than that of FW and BVB/FW.

Results

Results
Candidate Party Supporting party First
Votes %
Frank-Walter Steinmeier SPD SPD, CDU, CSU, Alliance 90/The Greens, FDP and SSW 1,045 78.04
Max Otte CDU (suspended) AfD 140 10.45
Gerhard Trabert Independent The Left 96 7.17
Stefanie Gebauer Free Voters Free Voters and BVB/FW 58 4.33
Valid votes 1,339 99.11
Invalid votes 12 0.89
Total 1,437 100
Abstentions 86 5.84
Abstents 35 2.38
Eligible voters/Turnout 1,472 91.78

This page was last updated at 2024-03-16 20:18 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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