Ilse Aigner nominated to become Germany's first female president
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By Isabella Jacobsen
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Ilse Aigner, president of the Bavarian State Parliament, has been officially nominated as the conservatives’ candidate for federal president. If she is elected on January 30, 2027, she will be the first woman to hold the highest office in Germany.
What the nomination means
Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the presidium of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, or CDU) at a dinner in Berlin on Sunday evening that he would propose Aigner, and the party’s federal executive officially nominated her on Monday. Presenting her to the press, Merz said that with Aigner, Germany would gain a president “with dignity and with heart”, according to ZDFheute.
Markus Söder, leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (Christlich-Soziale Union, or CSU), the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, had long pushed for Aigner’s candidacy.
Aigner’s nomination is historic for two reasons: she would be Germany’s first female president and the first CSU politician to become head of state. Previous conservative presidents came from the CDU.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or SPD), Merz’s coalition partner, has backed her nomination, as has the opposition party Alliance 90/The Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, or the Greens). SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said Aigner was “an incredibly integrative force” that Germany needed right now, according to Tagesschau.
The Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) chooses the next president. It includes the 630 members of the German parliament (Bundestag) and an equal number of delegates chosen by the 16 state parliaments. With the CDU, CSU, SPD and Greens behind her, her election is considered very likely.
Aigner would replace Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who has served two five-year terms and cannot run again. His term ends on March 18, 2027.
Who is Ilse Aigner?
Aigner is 61 and comes from Bavaria. Before entering politics in the 1990s, she trained as a telecommunications technician and later helped develop electrical systems for helicopters. She was elected to the Bundestag in 1998 and became federal agriculture minister in 2008, serving in two of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinets.
In 2013, Aigner returned to politics in her home state, serving as Bavarian economics minister and deputy state premier. She has been president of the Bavarian State Parliament (Bayerischer Landtag) since 2018. She has also volunteered in several roles, including as state chairperson of the Bavarian Red Cross Water Rescue service (BRK-Wasserwacht).
In backing her nomination, the SPD presidium described Aigner as an experienced, down-to-earth politician who can bring people together across party and social divides, according to Tagesspiegel. She and Merz are also known to be political friends.
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Isabella Jacobsen is an assistant editor intern balancing her time between the IamExpat office and the lecture halls at the University of Amsterdam, where she is pursuing a Master’s in political journalism. Growing up moving between Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Dubai, Cyprus, Denmark, and the Netherlands shaped a lifelong curiosity about how stories are told across different cultures. Before settling in Amsterdam, she earned her bachelor’s in media and communication from Erasmus University Rotterdam, which included an exchange semester studying journalism and broadcasting at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Driven by a constant desire to learn and take on new challenges, she is always looking for the next angle to explore. Read more