Merz nominates Aigner as Germany's first woman president

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday he will nominate Bavarian politician Ilse Aigner as Germany's next president, which would make her the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial head of state post.

Why it matters: With the governing CDU, CSU and SPD behind her, Aigner's election by the Federal Convention on January 30 is close to assured, settling a nomination that had strained relations between the two conservative sister parties for weeks.

Data as of Rapporteur report of November 9, 2026, carrying AFP, read in full in this run, for Merz's Sunday announcement at a dinner for CDU leaders; Reuters report of November 6, 2026, read in full in this run, for the CDU's earlier agreement to back Aigner and the party background. The Al Jazeera item that surfaced the announcement in the ranked pool is blocked to this reader, so no fact rests on it. Developing item.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that he intends to nominate Ilse Aigner as Germany’s next president, announcing the choice at a dinner for leaders of his Christian Democratic Union and confirming reports leaked by party sources last week. Aigner, 61, is a member of the Bavarian Christian Social Union, the CDU’s sister party, and is speaker of the Bavarian state parliament.

Aigner would succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who has held the post since 2017 and reaches the two term limit in March 2027. The president is elected on January 30 by the Federal Convention, drawn from Germany’s two parliamentary chambers, and with the governing coalition of the CDU, CSU and Social Democrats behind her, and the SPD having frequently voiced its support, her election is close to assured. She served as agriculture minister under Angela Merkel and would be the first woman, and the first CSU politician, to hold the office.

Merz nominates Aigner as Germany's first woman president

Sources