Senior German conservative pushes for deal on first female president

A senior German conservative has called on Chancellor Friedrich Merz's governing coalition to agree on a candidate for the country's next president within the next four weeks.

Germany's new president is to be elected on January 30, 2027. Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to step down in March 2027 after two five-year terms and cannot be re-elected.

Manfred Weber, deputy leader of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party of Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), said the coalition parties should reach a deal before the CSU party conference in Munich on October 23-24.

"There is no need for a long struggle now, but for a clear signal," Weber, who also heads the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) in Brussels, told dpa.

He backed Ilse Aigner, president of the Bavarian state parliament and a former federal agriculture minister, for the largely ceremonial post.

Weber said Aigner had the political experience and ability that Germany needed to bring people together.

Other potential candidates include Education Minister Karin Prien, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while some reports have suggested the state premier of Hesse, Boris Rhein, is in the running also. Germany has never had a female head of state.

The German president is elected by a federal convention made up of lawmakers in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, and representatives from the country's 16 federal states.

The CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats are expected to hold a majority in the convention, meaning the coalition parties will need to agree on a joint candidate.