2027 German presidential election

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).

On 26 February 2026, Julia Klöckner, the President of the Bundestag, ordered that the 18th Federal Convention be held on 30 January 2027.^[2]

According to the schedule, three state-level elections are still to be held before the 18th Federal Convention convenes (in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony-Anhalt). Together, these three states will send 57 state electors to the Federal Convention. Assuming that no further snap elections are held at the federal or state levels and assuming that all state legislatures elect delegations that reflect their party composition on a percentage basis, the Federal Assembly would currently (as of August 2026) be composed as follows:^[3]

Thus, the current federal government-coalition (CDU/CSU and SPD) would already be assured of a majority of at least 659 electoral votes, regardless of the three state elections still to be held. The same would apply – purely hypothetically – to a majority consisting of the CDU/CSU and the AfD. Mathematically speaking, the three upcoming state elections could also result in a majority for the CDU/CSU and Alliance 90/The Greens if these parties were to perform very strongly in each of those states.

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.