Presidential election 2022 live: Today the German head of state will be elected

Created: 02/13/2022Updated: 02/13/2022 09:33

By: Ines Alberti, Lucas Maier, Alina Schroeder

Today the Federal Assembly elects a Federal President.

You can read the current developments in the 2022 presidential election here in the live ticker.

• The Federal President* is elected today by the Federal Assembly*.

• It is considered certain that the incumbent head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier* (SPD*) will be re-elected.

• The opposing candidates* in the federal presidential election* in 2022 are Gerhard Trabert for Die Linke*, Max Otte for the AfD* and Stefanie Gebauer for the Freie Wahler*.

>>> Update live ticker <<<

+++ 9.29 a.m .:

This Sunday (February 13, 2022), the Federal Assembly will meet to re-elect a Federal President.

Germany's representative will probably continue to be Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

But which Federal President ruled best for the Germans?

T-Online asked this question together with an opinion research institute and received the following answer: Richard von Weizsäcker (CDU), Federal President from 1984 to 1994, made it to the top by a wide margin.

He received 37 percent of the votes.

Presidential election: Which head of state do Germans like best?

This was followed by Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) with 14 percent and Joachim Gauck (independent) with twelve percent.

Steinmeier ruled from February 12, 2017 to date - and probably beyond.

Weizsäcker was also elected to a second term of office.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier before the federal presidential election in 2022 – he is the second most popular federal president in Germany.

© Britta Pedersen/dpa

At the bottom of the list are Christian Wulff (CDU), who resigned in 2012, with two percent and Karl Carstens (CDU) with one percent.

**T-Online: “The precise question asked in the survey, which was representative of the population, was: 'In your opinion, who is or was the best Federal President?'

Civey surveyed 5,033 adult German citizens online between February 10 and 11, 2022.

The data is representative due to quotations and weightings, taking into account the statistical error of 2.5 percentage points."

Presidential election 2022: This is how the election Sunday goes

Update from Sunday, February 13th, 2022, 7:25 a.m .:

On Sunday afternoon, the Federal President will be elected.

So far, there are signs that the incumbent Federal President, Frank Walter-Steinmeier, will be re-elected.

If the

is based on the last election in 2017, the following

can be expected:

• Approx. 09.00 a.m.:

  First live streams begin on site

• 12:00 p.m .:

  Live stream of the Bundestag begins

• Approx. 12.45/1 p.m.:

  Voting begins

• Approx. 2:15 p.m.:

  Voting completed/evaluation begins

• Approx. 3 p.m.:

  Result

• In the evening hours:

  Interview with the newly elected or re-elected Federal President

Both the presence of media representatives from 9 a.m. and the live stream of the Bundestag have already been announced.

So you can follow the election of the Federal President live on TV and in the live stream*.

Presidential election: SPD calls for Frank Walter-Steinmeier to be re-elected in 2022

+++ 3.40 p.m .:

One day before the Federal Assembly, the SPD called for President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be re-elected.

The German Press Agency (dpa) reports on this.

"This re-election means the continuity of a very, very good administration," said party leader Saskia Esken on Saturday (February 12, 2022) before a parliamentary group meeting in Berlin.

In view of the many crises, the country needs this continuity.

Lars Klingbeil underlined Steinmeier's competence.

“We live in polarized times and I fear that this polarization will not decrease in the next few years.

The Federal President needs someone who is able to build bridges, who is able to bring people together, who is also able to find a language that holds the country together and unites it.

We have this person in Frank-Walter Steinmeier,” said the SPD party leader.

The 2022 presidential election will take place in the Paul-Löbe-Haus (right) on the Spree in Berlin.

© Ingo Schulz/Imago

Presidential election 2022 live: Steinmeier appears with SPD and Union

Update from Saturday, February 12th, 2022, 7.46 a.m .:

Frank-Walter Steinmeier will appear again at the SPD and CDU/CSU parties the day before the 2022 federal presidential election.

The parties come together for final preparatory meetings.

Steinmeier's re-election is supported by the SDP, CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP.

In the Federal Assembly, these parties make up 1,223 of the 1,472 members, which means that Steinmeier's second term in office is already assured.

The current incumbent made his appearance with the Greens on Friday evening (February 11, 2022) in an online conference.

After that, the faction leaders Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge spoke highly of him: "Frank-Walter Steinmeier is a very good and highly respected Federal President".

They went on to say that they therefore recommend their electors in the Federal Assembly to “re-elect Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Federal President”.

The left and AfD also meet with their candidates on Saturday.

Doctor Gerhard Trabert is running for the left.

For the AfD it is economist Max Otte.

There will also be further parliamentary group meetings on Sunday before the start of the Federal Assembly.

Presidential election: Which celebrities will have a say in 2022

+++ 7.34 p.m .:

On Sunday (February 13th, 2022) not only the parties in the Bundestag can decide who will become the new Federal President.

Celebrities will also have the choice between Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), Gerhard Trabert (non-party, nominated by Die Linke), Max Otte (CDU, nominated by AfD) and Stefanie Gebauer (free voters).

The parties in the German Bundestag decide who is allowed to have a say.

These celebrities are eligible voters*:

• Dietmar Bär (Known as Freddy from "Tatort*")

• Dieter Nuhr (cabaret artist)

• Bernd Stelter (comedian)

• Hennes Bender (comedian)

• Christian Drosten* (Director of the Institute for Virology at the Berlin Charité)

• Marylyn Addo (Infectious Diseases)

• Sandra Ciesek (virologist)

• Özlem Türeci (co-founder of the Mainz-based vaccine developer Biontech*)

• Christian Karagiannidis (President of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine)

• Gernot Marx (President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine)

• Roland Kaiser (singer)

• Igor Levit (star pianist)

• Klaas Heufer circulation (TV presenter)

• Leon Goretzka (professional soccer player)

• Kristina Vogel (cyclist)

• Britta Steffen (professional swimmer)

• Jana Majunke (cyclist)

• Angela Merkel (Ex-Chancellor)

• Alexander Gerst (astronaut)

• and much more

Presidential election in Berlin: Federal Assembly convenes in 2022

Update from Friday, February 11th, 2022, 3:34 p.m .:

In the election for the Federal President on Sunday, February 13, 2022, incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) has good prospects of being re-elected.

His two opponents, Gerhard Trabert (non-party, nominated by Die Linke), Max Otte (CDU, nominated by AfD) and the candidate Stefanie Gebauer (free voters) are only given slim chances.

The opinion research institute Civey, on behalf of the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, has now taken the upcoming election as an opportunity to ask the population how satisfied they are with Steinmeier as Federal President.

However, the result is anything but clear: 55 percent of those questioned stated that they were satisfied with their work.

However, 31 percent rate his first term negatively and 14 percent are undecided.

There are clear differences in the survey on Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Federal President* depending on the age group.

Presidential election: Three candidates and one female candidate will run on Sunday (February 13, 2022).

First report from Friday, February 11th, 2022:

Berlin – This Sunday (February 13th, 2022) it will be decided who will be Germany’s Federal President for the next five years.

This time, the Federal Assembly votes between three candidates for the election of the Federal President.

However, a re-election of the incumbent head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) is considered likely.

In addition to Steinmeier, his opponents are Gerhard Trabert (non-party, nominated by Die Linke), Max Otte (CDU*, nominated by AfD) and Stefanie Gebauer (free voters).

The SPD, CDU/CSU*, Greens* and FDP* have not put forward any candidates of their own, but support Steinmeier for a second term.

A total of 1472 people cast their votes, including members of the federal and state parliaments as well as various eligible voters from different areas of society.

Because of the corona pandemic*, the Federal Assembly does not meet in the plenary hall of the Reichstag building as usual, but in the neighboring Paul-Löbe-Haus.

The delegates are spread over several rooms and floors and should be able to keep a distance of 1.5 meters.

Presidential election 2022: Will Frank-Walter Steinmeier be re-elected?

In the last federal presidential election in 2017, the Federal Assembly made a clear decision in the first ballot: Frank-Walter Steinmeier received 74.3 percent of the votes and thus a clear absolute majority.

At that time, as now, the SPD, Union, Greens and FDP had pledged their support to the former Federal Foreign Minister.

The Left Party, AfD, Free Voters, the Pirate Party and Die PARTEI nominated their own candidates, but they hardly stood a chance.

This is how the Federal Assembly voted in 2017:

Current developments in the Federal Assembly, initial forecasts and projections* as well as the result* of the federal presidential election can be found here in the live ticker.

(Ines Alberti)