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Here the candidates were still four: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender (l) with the other candidates Gerhard Trabert (M), Max Otte and Stefanie Gebauer before the start of the Federal Assembly
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
His candidacy caused a lot of controversy in the Union: Max Otte had the AfD put him up as a candidate for the office of Federal President, although he is a member of the CDU.
The Union itself supports the incumbent candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Now Otte was absent from the presentation of the candidates at the beginning of the Federal Assembly.
The election of the head of state has been taking place in the Paul-Löbe-Haus in Berlin since Sunday afternoon.
A total of 1472 delegates are on site to vote.
Before the start of the actual election, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) gave a speech and introduced the four candidates: in addition to the incumbents Steinmeier and Otte, these are the physician Gerhard Trabert, nominated by the Left Party, and the physicist Stefanie Gebauer for the Free Voters.
All four candidates had seats on a gallery, but Otte's chair remained empty.
It was initially unclear where Otte was staying.
Before the start of the Federal Assembly, he could still be seen among the other candidates.
In the Union, the empty space caused malice.
The CDU member of the Bundestag Matthias Hauer tweeted that three out of four candidates "have at least passed the test to take their place in the #Federal Assembly".
"reason for expulsion"
The AfD nomination of the economist caused a lot of criticism from the CDU and CSU.
Former CDU chairman Armin Laschet told the broadcaster Phoenix that Otte had crossed a threshold.
"That's really a reason for a party exclusion." Otte should be removed from the CDU as soon as possible.
The CDU has already withdrawn all membership rights from the head of the arch-conservative Values Union.
In addition, proceedings to exclude Otte from the party have been initiated.
Otte told Phoenix that we will see if he actually gets kicked out.
He defended his AfD candidacy as a "service to the CDU": his party had failed to put up its own opponent to Steinmeier.
So he wanted to set an example.
The Federal Assembly is the largest parliamentary body in Germany - and is only used for the five-year election of the head of state.
It is made up of equal numbers of members of the German Bundestag and delegates from the 16 state parliaments.
Due to the corona pandemic, the Federal Assembly did not meet in the plenary hall of the Reichstag building for the first time, but in the neighboring Paul-Löbe-Haus.
The House of Representatives was specially prepared for the election, with chairs placed on several floors.
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