On June 30th Germany elected a new federal president (Bundespräsident in German). The 10th federal president of Germany is now Christian Wulff, 51, until now the prime minister of Lower Saxony, a German state. Christian Wulff is a member of the CDU (Christlich Demokratische Union). The media outside Germany have scarcely been aware of this event, yet it was accompanied by a great deal of drama in Germany. What happened? What's the role of the German president? Is there any wider significance?
What does the German Federal President do?
The German Federal President (I'll refer to the office as Bundespräsident from here out for simplicity) has a largely ceremonial office. Like the Queen of England, the Bundespräsident is the offical head of state. Like the Queen of England, most of his activities (there has not yet been a female Bundespräsident, who according to the rules of German grammar would be the Bundespräsidentin) are ceremonial - greeting foreign heads of state, giving speeches, awarding prizes. The Bundespräsident also signs bills into law; this normally happens automatically, but there have been a few cases in the history of the Bundesrepublik where a Bundespräsident refused to sign a bill, most recently in October 2006. The Bundespräsident normally has a term of five years, and may be reelected. In terms of prominence the office probably the most important next to the Bundeskanzler and the coach of the German national soccer team.
How is the Bundespräsident elected?
This is where it gets complicated and interesting, though not as complicated and interesting as the American Electoral College. It's as if the Germans wanted to emulate that system with its complexity, but chickened out before it got quite so bad. Still, the Bundespräsident is not elected via popular vote. Instead a special electoral college, the Bundesversammlung (Federal Convocation) is convened. This body consists of all members of the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) and an equals number of members selected by the state parliaments. This year the total number was 1244. The Bundesversammlung meets in the Reichstag in Berlin to do the actual electing. In the first two rounds an absolute majority is required to elect the president, in the third round a simple majority suffices.
Each party represented in the Bundestag can nominate its own candidate; typically parties in a coalition government agree on a single candidate. This year the Berlin ruling black/yellow coalition (CDU and FDP) agreed on Mr. Wulff as their joint candidate; in opposition the SPD and Green party agreed on a single candidate (more on that later); the opposition Left party (Die Linke) also put forth their own candidate. Oh yes, the right-extreme NPD (also known as Neo-Nazis), with three members out of the 1244, nominated a candidate. Usually the parties nominate a prominent figure connected to their party; on occasion they select someone outside the realm of politics.
So what happened this year?
The first unusual event was the resignation of Horst Köhler, the incumbent. Köhler had been re-elected to a second term as scheduled in May 2009. On May 31st of this year he unexpectedly announced that he was resigning, effective immediately. To this day no one knows exactly why he quit. He said it was a reaction to criticism of some remarks he made about the Bundeswehr (the Germany army) serving in Afghanistan; he said this criticism was inappropriate and showed a lack of respect for the office of the Bundespräsident. There has been much speculation about his real reasons; so far that has remained speculation.
To replace Köhler a special Bundesversammlung was called for June 30th. The ruling coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP quickly nominated Christian Wulff, a generally well-liked politician who at one time had been treated as a possible future chancellor, but whose star seemed to have reached its zenith. Everyone thought he was a good choice, as well as a skillful chess move by Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel - by making him president, she effectively removed him as a possible rival (no one, as far as I know, has ever gone on to an important elective office after being Bundespräsident). It looked like the coalition would have 644 votes, in theory giving a Wulff a clear majority in the first round of voting.
But the opposition SPD and Greens were clever. As their candidate they nominated Joachim Gauck, a former DDR pastor who became well known through his support of civil rights in the last months of the DDR, leading prayer meetings and protests. After reunification he was chosen to run the office which had the difficult job of securing, ordering and analyzing the voluminous files of the DDR secret police, the Stasi. This became known as the "Gauck Behörde", the Gauck Office. He ran this office in a pragmatic way for ten years, until 2000. Since then he has been a frequent guest in political talk shows and on the lecture circuit. Gauck is well-respected as one who risked his personal freedom to protest against the DDR, and who handled his difficult job with the Stasi files extremely well. His political views are probably closer to the ruling coalition than to the SPD/Greens, but he is a respected intellectual with strong personal integrity - an ideal candidate.
There was a great deal of muttering in the coalition about the unseemly quick choice of Wulff as candidate, without much discussion. Many in the coalition are extremely disappointed in the government, which was elected ten months ago with a sizable majority but has accomplished little since then. There was speculation some coalition members might defect and vote for Gauck.
Another delicate aspect of the election is the Left Party (Die Linke). This party is composed of mostly East German former members of the SED (the ruling party of the DDR), and disaffected Social Democrats from the West, led by former SPD Chairman Oskar Lafontaine. This grouping has been growing in strength in recent years, and has formed coalitions in state governments with the SPD and Greens, but so far a coalition at federal level has been taboo. As mentioned above, they were running their own candidate for Bundespräsident, the sociologist and TV journalist Luc Jochimsen (a woman). If the Left delegates would vote for Gauck, and if enough coalition delegates defected, he might be elected. Still, it seemed pretty unlikely - it would be unprecedented for so many to vote for the opposition candidate. Yet Gauck had broad support from the public; according to polls, shortly before the election it was running about 42% for Gauck and 36% for Wulff, with most of the rest undecided. Of course, that was largely irrelevant - but politicians are known to look at polls, aren't they?
The election
The election started at noon. The first round: 600 for Wulff, 499 for Gauck, 126 for Jochimsen, 3 for Rennicke (the NPD candidate), 13 abstaining. Wulff was 23 short of the absolute majority. This was an enormous shock. It was thought that he might lack a few votes from the coalition, but no one expected so many defections that he wouldn't be elected in the first round. In comparison - when Köhler was elected for the first time, he was elected in the first ballot with one vote more than an absolute majority; it's thought that about ten members of the CDU/CSU/FDP coalition defected that time. But here Wulff should have had 644 votes, so the defections were massive.
The second round was in the late afternoon: 615 Wulff, 490 Gauck, 123 Jochimsen, 3 Rennicke, 7 abstentions. Still short of an absolute majority. Still, this result would suffice in the third round - but what would the Left delegates do, and how much did the coalition delegates want to punish their government? The delegates withdrew to their caucuses, their leaders urged them to unity. The Left Party withdrew Jochimsen from the third round of voting, but refused to recommend their delegates vote for Gauck. He is not a well-loved figure in the Left Party - they have had a number of members whose past Stasi activity has been revealed by the Gauck office.
The final round was in the evening, the results were announced around 9:30 pm: Wulff 625, Gauck 494, 121 abstentions. Wulff was the tenth German Bundespräsident.
The aftermath
It had been speculated that Merkel's government would collapse if Wulff were not elected; that it took three rounds was not quite as bad for the government, but nonetheless a very bad result. So far nothing dramatic has happened, but the recriminations between and among the coalition partners have begun.
And it looks unlikely that the SPD will form a federal coalition with the Left Party soon.
What does the German Federal President do?
The German Federal President (I'll refer to the office as Bundespräsident from here out for simplicity) has a largely ceremonial office. Like the Queen of England, the Bundespräsident is the offical head of state. Like the Queen of England, most of his activities (there has not yet been a female Bundespräsident, who according to the rules of German grammar would be the Bundespräsidentin) are ceremonial - greeting foreign heads of state, giving speeches, awarding prizes. The Bundespräsident also signs bills into law; this normally happens automatically, but there have been a few cases in the history of the Bundesrepublik where a Bundespräsident refused to sign a bill, most recently in October 2006. The Bundespräsident normally has a term of five years, and may be reelected. In terms of prominence the office probably the most important next to the Bundeskanzler and the coach of the German national soccer team.
How is the Bundespräsident elected?
This is where it gets complicated and interesting, though not as complicated and interesting as the American Electoral College. It's as if the Germans wanted to emulate that system with its complexity, but chickened out before it got quite so bad. Still, the Bundespräsident is not elected via popular vote. Instead a special electoral college, the Bundesversammlung (Federal Convocation) is convened. This body consists of all members of the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) and an equals number of members selected by the state parliaments. This year the total number was 1244. The Bundesversammlung meets in the Reichstag in Berlin to do the actual electing. In the first two rounds an absolute majority is required to elect the president, in the third round a simple majority suffices.
Each party represented in the Bundestag can nominate its own candidate; typically parties in a coalition government agree on a single candidate. This year the Berlin ruling black/yellow coalition (CDU and FDP) agreed on Mr. Wulff as their joint candidate; in opposition the SPD and Green party agreed on a single candidate (more on that later); the opposition Left party (Die Linke) also put forth their own candidate. Oh yes, the right-extreme NPD (also known as Neo-Nazis), with three members out of the 1244, nominated a candidate. Usually the parties nominate a prominent figure connected to their party; on occasion they select someone outside the realm of politics.
So what happened this year?
The first unusual event was the resignation of Horst Köhler, the incumbent. Köhler had been re-elected to a second term as scheduled in May 2009. On May 31st of this year he unexpectedly announced that he was resigning, effective immediately. To this day no one knows exactly why he quit. He said it was a reaction to criticism of some remarks he made about the Bundeswehr (the Germany army) serving in Afghanistan; he said this criticism was inappropriate and showed a lack of respect for the office of the Bundespräsident. There has been much speculation about his real reasons; so far that has remained speculation.To replace Köhler a special Bundesversammlung was called for June 30th. The ruling coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP quickly nominated Christian Wulff, a generally well-liked politician who at one time had been treated as a possible future chancellor, but whose star seemed to have reached its zenith. Everyone thought he was a good choice, as well as a skillful chess move by Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel - by making him president, she effectively removed him as a possible rival (no one, as far as I know, has ever gone on to an important elective office after being Bundespräsident). It looked like the coalition would have 644 votes, in theory giving a Wulff a clear majority in the first round of voting.
But the opposition SPD and Greens were clever. As their candidate they nominated Joachim Gauck, a former DDR pastor who became well known through his support of civil rights in the last months of the DDR, leading prayer meetings and protests. After reunification he was chosen to run the office which had the difficult job of securing, ordering and analyzing the voluminous files of the DDR secret police, the Stasi. This became known as the "Gauck Behörde", the Gauck Office. He ran this office in a pragmatic way for ten years, until 2000. Since then he has been a frequent guest in political talk shows and on the lecture circuit. Gauck is well-respected as one who risked his personal freedom to protest against the DDR, and who handled his difficult job with the Stasi files extremely well. His political views are probably closer to the ruling coalition than to the SPD/Greens, but he is a respected intellectual with strong personal integrity - an ideal candidate.
Another delicate aspect of the election is the Left Party (Die Linke). This party is composed of mostly East German former members of the SED (the ruling party of the DDR), and disaffected Social Democrats from the West, led by former SPD Chairman Oskar Lafontaine. This grouping has been growing in strength in recent years, and has formed coalitions in state governments with the SPD and Greens, but so far a coalition at federal level has been taboo. As mentioned above, they were running their own candidate for Bundespräsident, the sociologist and TV journalist Luc Jochimsen (a woman). If the Left delegates would vote for Gauck, and if enough coalition delegates defected, he might be elected. Still, it seemed pretty unlikely - it would be unprecedented for so many to vote for the opposition candidate. Yet Gauck had broad support from the public; according to polls, shortly before the election it was running about 42% for Gauck and 36% for Wulff, with most of the rest undecided. Of course, that was largely irrelevant - but politicians are known to look at polls, aren't they?
The election
The election started at noon. The first round: 600 for Wulff, 499 for Gauck, 126 for Jochimsen, 3 for Rennicke (the NPD candidate), 13 abstaining. Wulff was 23 short of the absolute majority. This was an enormous shock. It was thought that he might lack a few votes from the coalition, but no one expected so many defections that he wouldn't be elected in the first round. In comparison - when Köhler was elected for the first time, he was elected in the first ballot with one vote more than an absolute majority; it's thought that about ten members of the CDU/CSU/FDP coalition defected that time. But here Wulff should have had 644 votes, so the defections were massive.
The second round was in the late afternoon: 615 Wulff, 490 Gauck, 123 Jochimsen, 3 Rennicke, 7 abstentions. Still short of an absolute majority. Still, this result would suffice in the third round - but what would the Left delegates do, and how much did the coalition delegates want to punish their government? The delegates withdrew to their caucuses, their leaders urged them to unity. The Left Party withdrew Jochimsen from the third round of voting, but refused to recommend their delegates vote for Gauck. He is not a well-loved figure in the Left Party - they have had a number of members whose past Stasi activity has been revealed by the Gauck office.
The final round was in the evening, the results were announced around 9:30 pm: Wulff 625, Gauck 494, 121 abstentions. Wulff was the tenth German Bundespräsident.
The aftermath
It had been speculated that Merkel's government would collapse if Wulff were not elected; that it took three rounds was not quite as bad for the government, but nonetheless a very bad result. So far nothing dramatic has happened, but the recriminations between and among the coalition partners have begun.
And it looks unlikely that the SPD will form a federal coalition with the Left Party soon.
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