Federal President election: Left puts on social medicine

Created: 01/09/2022Updated: 01/09/2022, 9:26 PM

The social medicine specialist Gerhard Trabert in Mainz.

© Andreas Arnold / dpa / archive image

Incumbent Steinmeier can count on broad support for re-election, but the Left is still sending an opposing candidate into the race.

The non-party doctor Gerhard Trabert wants to put the issue of social justice in the foreground with his candidacy.

Berlin / Mainz - Die Linke sends the social medicine specialist Gerhard Trabert from Mainz as a candidate for the election of the Federal President.

A party spokesman confirmed this on Sunday evening.

The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" had previously reported.

An official presentation of the 65-year-old as a candidate for the office of Federal President is planned for Tuesday.

The independent doctor competes against incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

He can count on a large majority for his re-election, as he is supported by the traffic light coalition made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP as well as the CDU and CSU.

more on the subject

Abused female patients?

Doctor rejects allegations

Esken wants to remain the SPD chairman - is a new dual leadership approaching?

Sculpture for Jewish athletes destroyed: incident in Gotha

"Of course it would be time for a woman to become head of state," said Trabert on Sunday to the German press agency.

After the direct candidacy for the Bundestag election in Mainz, he now sees it as his duty to bring the topic of social inequality into the public discussion “on this completely different level”.

Trabert received 12.7 percent of the first votes in the election last September.

Trabert has long been committed to helping the homeless, the poor and refugees.

The doctor is the founder and chairman of the Association for Poverty and Health in Germany.

He repeatedly took part in civilian sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

"My candidacy is under the slogan: Dare to be more social," said Trabert. He could not see this in the program of the new federal government. "Many politicians are so far removed from the reality of the recipients of transfer payments that they can no longer understand what it means to have to live on Hartz IV." It must be the job of a Federal President to emphasize the issue of inequality in Germany . In the pandemic in particular, far too little attention is paid to the fact that illness and mortality are very much linked to social status. Trabert also accused the federal government of failing to meet Germany's humanitarian responsibility in any way, given the plight of refugees in the Mediterranean.

The Federal President is elected by the Federal Assembly, which meets on February 13th.

It will have 1,472 members - the 736 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of people who send the 16 state parliaments.

The AfD had also announced that it would put up a candidate, but had not yet given a name.

dpa