German presidential election, 2017

German presidential election, 2017

2012 ← 12 February 2017 → 2022

Nominee Frank-Walter Steinmeier Christoph Butterwegge () Albrecht Glaser () Party SPD Independent AfD Electoral vote 931 128 42 Percentage 73.89% 10.16% 3.33% Nominators SPD, CDU/CSU, Grüne, FDP, SSW Linke AfD   Nominee Alexander Hold () Engelbert Sonneborn () Party FW Independent Electoral vote 25 10 Percentage 1.98% 0.79% Nominators BVB/FW Pirate Party, PARTEI

President before election Joachim Gauck Independent Elected President Frank-Walter Steinmeier SPD

Joachim Gauck
Independent

Frank-Walter Steinmeier
SPD

The 2017 German presidential election (officially the 16th Federal Convention) was held on 12 February 2017. The election selected Frank-Walter Steinmeier as President of Germany; incumbent President Joachim Gauck announced on 6 June 2016 that he would not stand for re-election, citing his advancing age.

The President was elected by the Federal Convention, an electoral body that consists of all members of the current Bundestag and an equal number of electors, who are elected by the sixteen state parliaments. The President-elect will enter office on 19 March 2017 and will take the oath of office the same day in a joint session of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

Steinmeier was chosen as the single candidate of the ruling coalition in November and, with the Christian Democratic Union choosing not to field a candidate against him, his election was seen as guaranteed.

The Bundesversammlung was composed as follows:

In the Federal Convention, a candidate needs a majority (at least 631 votes) to become President. If no candidate gets a majority of votes in the first two ballots, a plurality is sufficient on the third ballot.

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 is a German citizen and at least 40 years old. Every candidate has to declare his 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 on federal or state level, he has to resign from that office before the start of his term. A sitting President is not allowed to run for a third consecutive term.

...
Wikipedia