According to ARD information, Ilse Aigner is set to become Federal President

Steinmeier successor Union wants Aigner as Federal President As of: November 6th, 2026 • 9:36 p.m

She would be the first woman there: According to the ARD capital studio, the CDU and CSU will propose Ilse Aigner as a candidate for the office of Federal President. Together with the SPD, they would have a majority in the Federal Assembly.

The Union parties agree that they want to propose the CSU politician Ilse Aigner as Federal President. The ARD capital studio found out. Her nomination is expected to be announced on Monday. The Süddeutsche Zeitung and Spiegel first reported on it.

The CDU presidium and board are expected to make the formal decision on Monday. On Sunday evening, Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz will meet the members of the Presidium for dinner. CSU boss Markus Söder had already brought Aigner into play in April.

The new German head of state will be elected by the Federal Assembly on January 30th. Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) will then leave office after ten years.

In addition to the 630 members of the Bundestag, the assembly also includes many voters from the federal states. The Union and SPD have a majority of around 50 votes there. It is likely that Merz will try to involve the Greens.

The AfD wants to put forward its own candidate. However, this is considered hopeless due to the majority situation.

It should be a woman - that's how far Chancellor Merz has decided on the question of the Federal President. more

Merz had not yet said publicly whether he supported the 61-year-old. He simply decided that a woman should be elected to the highest state office. Merz had made it clear that he sees the CDU as having the right to make proposals - it is the strongest force in the Federal Assembly.

In the past few days, more and more CDU state leaders have spoken out in favor of Aigner. Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei also spoke positively about her.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said that if the Union spoke out in favor of Aigner, "then I can only say for the SPD, then we would welcome and support that." Aigner has “an incredibly integrative power” that Germany needs, especially in these times: “She is a very people-oriented politician who talks to people on an equal level, that is really important.”

SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch and individual SPD prime ministers have also spoken out in favor of Aigner.

Union nominates Ilse Aigner as successor to Federal President Steinmeier Ilanit Spinner, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, Das Erste, November 6th, 2026 • 8:00 p.m. Greens are also open The Greens also showed sympathy for Aigner. “She has always appeared approachable and approachable in her previous political positions,” said parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann. "We Greens believe it is appropriate and right for a woman to hold the highest office in the state for the first time in 75 years. The time is ripe for it." In these times we need a head of state who can bring the country together.

At the same time, the co-parliamentary leader of the Greens criticized the Union's search for candidates. For weeks the Republic has been talking about one proposal after another for the office. "The unprofessional search by the Union and Friedrich Merz is unworthy of this office. How can a process be so stumbling?"

Left faction leader Heidi Reichinnek criticized that it would have made more sense to offer “a non-partisan candidacy that broad sections of the population feel represented.” She told the Augsburger Allgemeine that "the fact that the office of Federal President is repeatedly pushed back and forth as a supply post between the CDU/CSU parties and the SPD does not do justice to the role of this office."

The CDU/CSU's search for a federal president is highly charged - not for the first time in history. more

The 61-year-old would be the first woman to head the Federal Republic after twelve men. She would also be the first head of state not to have studied and would be the first single person to hold the office. So far, nine women have unsuccessfully tried to become Federal President.

Aigner has been President of the Bavarian State Parliament since 2018. In her first election she achieved an overwhelming majority with 198 out of 205 votes. She was previously Federal Minister of Agriculture in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet from 2008 to 2013.

Aigner comes from Feldkirchen-Westerham in Upper Bavaria. After graduating from secondary school in 1981, she trained as a radio and television technician. She later trained as a systems electrician for helicopters.

According to Aigner, "unexplained family circumstances" - she is not married - were one reason why the CSU did not make her a candidate for mayor of her home community in 1993. After a short time in the state parliament from 1994, Aigner stepped in for a failed CSU direct candidate in the 1998 federal election and won the mandate.

Aigner has had serious illnesses. She was diagnosed with a tumor in her back when she was a teenager. Through an operation she avoided the threat of paraplegia. As a minister, she overcame thyroid cancer with radiation therapy.

CSU leader Söder supports the candidacy of his party colleague Aigner for the 2027 federal presidential election. more

Aigner once said that she shares a “community of fate” with the CSU boss and the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder. Both entered the state parliament at the same time and were colleagues on the state board of the Junge Union and in Horst Seehofer's cabinet. She lost the competition for Seehofer's successor to Söder in 2018.

Söder had left no doubt about his support for Federal President Aigner for six months. “If she wants to, she has my full sympathy and support,” he said in April. At the end of October he used the CSU party conference to advertise for them.

According to ARD correspondent Philip Kuntschner, Söder prevailed over Merz in the candidate search. However, this reduces his chances of becoming chancellor himself one day.

This topic in the program: The First | daily news | 12/06/2026 | 8:00 p.m