Bas next President of the Bundestag? SPD puts surprise candidate for election in parliament

For days there has been speculation about the successor to Wolfgang Schäuble as President of the Bundestag.

The SPD has now found a candidate.

Update from October 20, 7.45 p.m.:

A big step towards the third President of the Bundestag in history has been taken.

The SPD parliamentary group's executive committee unanimously approved the proposal of its boss Rolf Mützenich to put Bärbel Bas up for election.

The deputy from Duisburg is to be elected by parliament on Tuesday at a constituent meeting.

First report from October 20th:

Berlin - Apparently the SPD has decided on a President of the Bundestag: According to information from

, SPD politician Bärbel Bas will head the Bundestag presidium in the future. A heated personnel debate about Schäuble's successor had already unfolded the days before. First in the conversation was parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich - but SPD women put pressure on Olaf Scholz *. The argument: equality. Because Mützenich as President of the Bundestag would also have meant that the highest German state offices would all be filled with men. And Scholz had always emphasized in the election campaign that his cabinet should have equal representation.

But the scandal seems to have been averted: The group leaders propose 53-year-old Bas for the office, the German press agency learned on Wednesday from parliamentary groups.

The executive committee had unanimously followed the suggestion of the group leader Rolf Mützenich, confirmed a group spokesman.

The group has yet to confirm the identity.

Then Bas could be elected next Tuesday at the constituent session of the Bundestag.

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Bärbel Bas at the 203rd session of the German Bundestag in the Reichstag building.

© Christoph Hardt / Imago

Next President of the Bundestag?

According to the report, the SPD is committed to a surprise candidate

After the Federal President and before the Chancellor, the President of the Bundestag is one of the highest-ranking offices in the German state. The President is elected by the Bundestag; the most important task is to lead the plenary sessions. The office is usually occupied by the largest parliamentary group, so it falls to the SPD after the federal election.

The women in the SPD had recently put pressure * on their parliamentary group to definitely fill the office with a woman.

If the SPD does not have a President of the Bundestag, the intended second term of office of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is in danger, because then one would have to make a woman Federal President, it said.

The former integration commissioner of the federal government, Aydan Özoguz, is to become vice-president for the SPD in the Bundestag.

List of rubric lists: © Christoph Hardt / Imago