(de-news.net) – Conservative leader Markus Söder (CSU) has endorsed Ilse Aigner for Germany’s presidency, with several SPD figures also backing her potential candidacy. While CDU parliamentary leader Thorsten Frei opposes making gender a prerequisite for the office, he urges delaying the nomination until after September’s state elections, as parties prepare for the 2027 presidential vote.
Ilse Aigner (CSU), the head of the Bavarian parliament, has emerged as a prominent potential candidate for Germany’s presidency after receiving the public backing of CSU leader Markus Söder. Presenting Aigner as well qualified for the office, Söder said he regarded the current political environment as particularly favorable to her prospects. He emphasized both his longstanding respect for Aigner and his view that the broader political consensus increasingly favored the election of a woman as Germany’s next Federal President. He also pointed to encouraging signals from within the center-left SPD, suggesting that support for Aigner could extend beyond her own conservative political camp.
That assessment has been reinforced by endorsements from several leading SPD figures, underscoring the cross-party appeal that supporters argue Aigner has cultivated during her tenure as president of the Bavarian parliament. Sebastian Roloff, chairman of the Bavarian SPD, argued that she had earned broad respect across party lines through her parliamentary leadership, describing her as a consensus-oriented political figure whose conciliatory style and ability to bridge differences would serve the presidency well. Markus Rinderspacher, deputy president of the Bavarian parliament, likewise maintained that Aigner possessed the political experience, personal integrity, and commitment to parliamentary democracy expected of a Federal President. He further credited her with consistently promoting respectful political dialogue, strengthening social cohesion, and defending democratic values, expressing confidence that she would represent Germany with dignity, prudence, and an unwavering commitment to freedom, democracy, and public responsibility.
Support for Aigner has also come from Thomas Jung (SPD), the longtime mayor of Fürth, who described her as the strongest available candidate for the office. Drawing on more than three decades of personal and political acquaintance dating back to their joint election to the Bavarian parliament in 1994, Jung highlighted her accessibility, active engagement with citizens, practical judgment, and sustained commitment to Germany’s democratic traditions. In his assessment, those qualities distinguished her as an especially compelling choice for the presidency.
Frei calls for deliberate Presidential selection
Thorsten Frei, chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, rejected the suggestion that the presidency should automatically go to a woman on this occasion. While acknowledging that there were persuasive reasons to elect Germany’s first female Federal President, he argued that gender should not become a predetermined criterion or effectively exclude male candidates from consideration. Instead, Frei advocated an open nomination process that would allow party leaders to identify the strongest candidate capable of attracting broad political support.
Frei also urged caution regarding the timetable for selecting a successor to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In his view, substantive decisions should be postponed until after the September state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Berlin. Only once those elections have concluded, he argued, will the final composition of the Federal Convention—and, by extension, the balance of parliamentary representation responsible for electing the next president—be fully established. Waiting until that point, he maintained, would provide a clearer political basis for the nomination process while also demonstrating appropriate respect for the incumbent head of state.
Responding more broadly to Söder’s public endorsement of Aigner, Frei argued that party leaders should avoid rushing to conclusions and instead carefully weigh the competing political considerations before settling on a nominee. He suggested that, given Germany’s current political climate, the office of the Federal President could assume an even more significant role as a source of institutional stability and democratic continuity. For that reason, he maintained that imposing overly narrow criteria or premature constraints on the selection process would be counterproductive.
Germany’s next presidential election is scheduled for January 30, 2027, while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s second and final term is due to conclude in March 2027. Coalition circles continue to expect that the CDU/CSU and SPD will ultimately unite behind a joint nominee. The AfD, meanwhile, has recently indicated that it is considering nominating its own candidate, setting the stage for the formal selection process in the months ahead.
