2027 German presidential election
18th German federal presidential election
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The 2027 German presidential election, officially the 18th Federal Convention, will be held by the Federal Convention on 30 January 2027, before the end of the term of office of the current German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Steinmeier is term-limited and thus cannot seek a third consecutive term, as specified in paragraph 2 of Article 54 of the Constitution.
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30 January 2027
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Voting procedure
The German president is elected indirectly by the Federal Convention, a non-permanent constitutional body whose sole function is to carry out this task. According to paragraph 3 of Article 54 of the Constitution, the Federal Convention is composed of all the members of the Bundestag (the federal parliament) and an equal number of state electors who are elected by the state parliaments based on the principles of proportional representation.[1] Based on the electoral system introduced in 2023, the number of German MPs after the 2025 federal election is fixed at 630, leading to a Federal Convention of 1260 members.
The Federal Convention must convene no later than 30 days before the end of the incumbent's term of office or – in the event of a premature termination of office – no later than 30 days after the vacancy arises.
Voting in the Federal Convention is by secret ballot and without debate. In the first two rounds of voting, a majority of all members of the Convention (i.e. 631 votes) is required for a successful election. Starting with the third round, a plurality is sufficient (therefore, starting with the third round, an election can only fail if the two leading candidates receive the same number of votes).
Date and composition of the 18th Federal Convention
On 26 February 2026, Julia Klöckner, the President of the Bundestag, ordered that the 18th Federal Convention be convened on 30 January 2027.[2] According to the Federal Government's announcement of September 16, 2026, the 630 state electors are distributed among the sixteen states as follows:[3]
| State | Electors |
|---|---|
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 134 |
| Free State of Bavaria | 99 |
| Baden-Württemberg | 82 |
| Lower Saxony | 63 |
| Hesse | 45 |
| Free State of Saxony | 33 |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 31 |
| Berlin | 26 |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 21 |
| Brandenburg | 21 |
| Saxony-Anhalt | 17 |
| Free State of Thuringia | 17 |
| Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg | 13 |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 13 |
| Saarland | 8 |
| Free Hanseatic City of Bremen | 5 |
According to the schedule, no further elections are expected at the federal or state level until the 18th Federal Convention is convened. Assuming there are no more snap elections, and assuming that all state legislatures elect delegations that exactly reflect their compositions, the following distribution of seats, as calculated by Wahlrecht.de, is expected:[4]
| Party | Bundestag members | State electors | Total electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| CDU/CSU[a] | 208 | 223–224 | 431–432 |
| AfD | 150 | 110–112 | 260–262 |
| SPD | 120 | 131–133 | 251–253 |
| Grüne | 85 | 108–112 | 193–197 |
| Die Linke | 64 | 14–16 | 78–80 |
| FW | 0 | 18 | 18 |
| FDP | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| BSW | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| SSW | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Thüringen.Gerecht | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Non-inscrits/Independents | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 630 | 630 | 1260 |
Ranges (e.g., 0–1) indicate cases in which multiple parties have an equal mathematical claim to the last seat in a state delegation; if necessary, the decision is made by lot.
- As is customary in the Bundestag, the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, sit together in the Federal Convention. Of the CDU/CSU electors, 86 are expected to be members of the CSU (44 of whom are members of the Bundestag and 42 state electors for Bavaria).
Candidates
Candidates must be nominated by a member of the Federal Convention and must consent to that nomination. Only German citizens eligible to be elected to the Bundestag who are at least 40 years old on the day of the election are eligible to run. An incumbent may be re-elected, but not for more than two consecutive terms; therefore, incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier is ineligible for the 2027 election, while all other living former presidents (Christian Wulff and Joachim Gauck) are, in theory, eligible.
Social discussion in advance
As in past elections, there are calls in the run-up to the 2027 election for a woman to be elected. To date, all German presidents have been male.[5][6][7] In August 2025, chancellor Friedrich Merz said that he could "very well imagine" supporting the election of a first female German president.[8]
Declared candidates
The following individuals have been formally proposed as candidates for the office of president:
| Candidate (age) |
Party | Party endorsements (as of September 2026) |
Office(s) held | Combined votes of endorsing partys in the Federal Convention;[a] 631 votes required on the first two ballots | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Gabriele Krone-Schmalz (77) |
Independent | BSW[9] | None | 7 | |
- Based on the current seat projection (see above), which may still change depending on the actual results of the delegate elections in the state parliaments. Furthermore, members of the Federal Convention are not required to follow their party leadership’s voting recommendations, especially since the vote is secret, so the actual voting results may also differ.
Possible candidates
The following individuals have been mentioned as potential candidates in political or media discussions and have not yet ruled out running for the office of president:
CDU/CSU
Ilse Aigner
President of the Bavaria State Parliament
(2018–)
Former Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture
(2008–2013)[10]
Monika Grütters
Former Minister of State to the Chancellor; Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media
(2013–2021)[11]
Julia Klöckner
President of the Bundestag
(2025–)
Former Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture
(2018–2021)[12]
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Former Federal Minister for Defence
(2019–2021)
Former Minister-President of Saarland
(2013–2018)[12]
Karin Prien
Federal Minister for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
(2025–)
Former Schleswig-Holstein State Minister for Education, Science and Culture
(2017–2025)[12]
Boris Rhein
Minister-President of Hesse
(2022–)
Former President of the Hesse State Parliament
(2019–2022)
Former Hesse State Minister for Science and Fine Arts
(2014–2019)
Former Hesse State Minister of the Interior and Sport
(2010–2014)[13]
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SPD
Independent
Jutta Allmendinger
Sociologist
Professor of educational sociology and labor market research at Humboldt University
(2007–)[14]
Declined candidates
The following individuals have been mentioned as potential candidates in political or media discussions, but have ruled out running for the office of president:
- CDU/CSU
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (2019–), Former Federal Minister for Defence (2013–2019), Former Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs (2009–2013), Former Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (2005–2009), Former Lower Saxony State Minister for Social Affairs, Women, Family and Health (2003–2005)[17]
- Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany (2005–2021), former Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (1994–1998), former Federal Minister for Women and Youth (1991–1994)[18]