2010 German presidential election
30 June 2010 (2010-06-30)
 
Nominee Christian Wulff Joachim Gauck
Party CDU Independent
Home state Lower-Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Electoral vote 600 (1st round)
615 (2nd round)
625 (3rd round)		 499 (1st round)
490 (2nd round)
494 (3rd round)
Percentage 50.2% 39.7%
Nominators CDU/CSU, FDP SPD, Grüne, SSW
President before election

Jens Böhrnsen (Acting)
SPD

 Elected President

Christian Wulff
CDU

An indirect presidential election (officially the 14th Federal Convention) was held in Germany on 30 June 2010 following the resignation of Horst Köhler as president of Germany on 31 May 2010.[1][2] Christian Wulff, the candidate nominated by the three governing parties, the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union of Bavaria and the Free Democratic Party, was elected president in the third ballot.[3] His main contender was the candidate of two opposition parties, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance '90/The Greens, independent human rights activist Joachim Gauck.

Candidates

Christian Wulff (CDU, CSU, FDP and Free Voters)

On 3 June 2010, Christian Wulff (CDU), the incumbent Premier of Lower Saxony, was nominated as the candidate of the government parties (CDU, CSU, FDP).[4] Prior to this, Federal Minister of Labour Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) had been considered the front-runner for the nomination of the government parties.[5][6]

Because the Constitution of Germany forbids the president to hold other offices, Christian Wulff resigned from his seat in the Landtag of Lower Saxony and left the supervisory board of Volkswagen. He resigned from his post as Premier of Lower Saxony upon being elected as president on 30 June, handing his resignation letter to the president of the Landtag, who was also a delegate to the Federal Convention, before heading towards the podium to formally accept his election.

Joachim Gauck (SPD, Greens and SSW)

On 3 June 2010, the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the SSW, nominated independent Joachim Gauck, an anti-communist civil rights activist from East Germany and the first Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, as their presidential candidate.[7]

In the days following the official nominations, several FDP and CDU politicians expressed their support for Gauck, among them former Brandenburg CDU chairman Jörg Schönbohm[8][9] and Oliver Möllenstädt, chairman of Bremen's FDP.[10] Gauck is viewed as a liberal conservative, enjoying respect across political parties.[11][12] Also Bavaria's Free Voters, who send 10 delegates to the Federal Convention, said they would not nominate a candidate of their own, expressing sympathy for Gauck.[13]

Philipp Freiherr von Brandenstein (CSU) argued that the election of Joachim Gauck would prevent any cooperation between SPD, Greens and the Left Party for years to come: "Gauck has likely made it perfectly clear to Gabriel that he will never appoint any of the apologists of the communist tyranny as government members".[14]

While the Left's co-chairman, Klaus Ernst, initially indicated that his party might support Gauck in a possible second or third ballot,[15] Gregor Gysi, chairman of the Left's parliamentary group in the Bundestag and Oskar Lafontaine, former co-chairman of the party, voiced their opposition to voting for Gauck, criticizing his support of the War in Afghanistan and the Hartz welfare reforms.[16][17] Katja Kipping, a member of parliament for the Left Party, claimed Gauck was a "man of the past". Kipping lauded Gauck's role in investigating Stasi injustice but criticized "equating Hitler-fascism and the GDR", which she perceives as a "trivialisation of fascism".[18] Klaus Ernst subsequently retracted his statements, stating that the Left will not vote for Gauck.[19] Gauck himself warned the SPD and Greens against cooperating with the Left.[20] Sigmar Gabriel, the SPD chairman, described Lafontaine's reaction as "bizarre and embarrassing", stating that he was "shocked" the party would declare Joachim Gauck their main enemy due to his investigation of communist injustice. Gabriel also said that the "reform forces" in the Left Party should stop "backing down" and "start enforcing their views".[21]

Luc Jochimsen (The Left)

The left-wing[22] party The Left nominated Luc Jochimsen, a member of parliament and former editor-in-chief of public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk.[23] After her nomination, Jochimsen opined that the German Democratic Republic was not a "state of injustice", despite "committing inexcusable injustice towards its citizens".[24] She withdrew after the second ballot, and urged her party members to abstain in the third ballot.[25]

Frank Rennicke (NPD)

The far-right NPD nominated nationalist singer-songwriter Frank Rennicke.[26] He withdrew after the second ballot.

Electoral assembly

Party Seats
Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union of Bavaria 496
Social Democratic Party 333
Free Democratic Party 148
Alliance '90/The Greens 129
The Left 124
Free Voters 10
National Democratic Party 3
South Schleswig Voter Federation 1
  1,244
Source: wahlrecht.de

Delegates do not only include politicians as delegates, but also celebrities, among them Olympic champion Georg Hettich. The Greens sent Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, the FDP's candidate in the 1994 presidential election, as one of their delegates.[27]

Results

After the first two ballots, Christian Wulff led vote totals but could not win an absolute majority of 623 votes. It was notable that 45 delegates belonging to the governing coalition either voted for Gauck or abstained altogether during the first round. Thus, the vote went to a decisive third round, where only a plurality of votes was required to win. The election is the third to require three ballots since the current system was introduced in 1949.[28]

Candidate Nominating party/ies Round one[29] Round two[30] Round three[31]
Votes Percentage Votes Percentage Votes Percentage
Christian WulffCDU, CSU, FDP60048.361549.762550.2
Joachim GauckSPD, Grüne49940.249039.649439.7
Luc JochimsenLinke12610.11239.6Withdrawn
Frank RennickeNPD30.230.2
Abstentions131.070.61219.7
Valid votes124199.8123899.5124099.7
Turnout124299.8123999.6124299.8

Aftermath

A day after the election, a statement by Left Party politician Diether Dehm comparing the choice between Wulff and Gauck to a choice between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin sparked controversy and drew criticism from Greens politician Renate Künast. Dehm subsequently apologized for his choice of words.[32][33] Künast also stated that any future cooperation with the Left was "miles away", particularly in light of the party's rejection of Gauck.[34] The SPD and Greens also blamed The Left for the election of Christian Wulff.[35] Gysi, on the other hand, criticized the SPD of not cooperating with his party, which is considered extreme by federal authorities, and again pointed out differences in political positions between Gauck and the Left.[34]

On 2 July 2010 Wulff was sworn into office as president of Germany.[36]

Wulff resigned in February 2012 in the midst of political and financial scandals, and Gauck ended up elected as his successor, having won the support of the CDU, CSU and FDP in the snap presidential election.

References

  1. ↑ Der Weg zum neuen Präsidenten Way to the new President (in German). n-tv.de. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  2. ↑ Cremer, Andreas and Parkin, Brian (3 June 2010). Merkel Shoulders ‘One Less Problem’ After Making President Pick. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Chancellor Angela Merkel's Candidate, Christian Wulff, Elected As New German President". cbs13.com. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Christian Wulff nominated as next German President. The Hindu. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  5. ↑ Köhler-Nachfolge: Arbeitsministerin Von der Leyen Favoritin Köhler-succession: Minister of Labour Von der Leyen favourite (in German). OÖNachrichten. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  6. ↑ Walker, Marcus (4 June 2010). Merkel's Coalition Selects Candidate. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  7. ↑ SPD und Grüne schicken Gauck ins Rennen SDP and Greens send Gauck into the race (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  8. ↑ Unterstützung bei Schwarz-Gelb für Wulff bröckelt Support for Wulff from Black-yellow erodes (in German). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  9. ↑ Barkin, Noah (6 June 2010). Rival candidate for president new headache for Merkel. Reuters. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  10. ↑ Boesler, Jessica (11 June 2010). Diese FDP Politiker gefährden Wulffs Mehrheit. These FDP politicians endanger Wulff's majority Archived 13 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in German). Financial Times Deutschland. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  11. ↑ Carstens, Peter (5 June 2010). Die FDP hatte keine Wahl The FDP had no choice (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  12. ↑ Support grows for Gauck presidency Archived 7 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine. The Local. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  13. ↑ Freie Wähler wollen für Gauck stimmen. Free Voters want to vote for Gauck (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  14. ↑ Alexander, Robin and Kamann, Matthias (6 June 2010). Der Krimi um die Präsidentenwahl The thriller about the presidential election (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  15. ↑ Leftists name third presidential candidate Archived 11 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine. The Local. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  16. ↑ "Lafontaine schließt jede Unterstützung der Linken für Gauck aus". Saarbrücker Zeitung (in German). Presseportal.de. 13 June 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  17. ↑ "Linken-Fraktionschef Gregor Gysi schließt Unterstützung Gaucks aus – Politik – Nachrichten" (in German). op-online.de. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  18. ↑ "Das Newsportal für Sachsen".
  19. ↑ "In Linkspartei wächst Ärger über Gauck | Inland | Reuters". De.reuters.com. 9 February 2009. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  20. ↑ "Präsidentschaftskandidat: Gauck warnt vor Rot-Rot-Grün". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  21. ↑ "Bundespräsident: Gabriel: Lafontaine-Kritik an Gauck peinlich - FOCUS Online".
  22. ↑ Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz: Verfassungsschutzbericht 2007 Archived 30 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, p. 149. (in German)
  23. ↑ Linke nominiert Jochimsen für Präsidentenwahl Left nominates Jochimsen for presidential election (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  24. ↑ "Jochimsen: DDR "kein Unrechtsstaat" – Gedenken an Volksaufstand" (in German). N24.de. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  25. ↑ "Bundespräsidentenwahl: Linke Jochimsen zieht Kandidatur zurück". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  26. ↑ Singender Neonazi will Bundespräsident werden. Singing Neonazi wants to become President (in German). Die Zeit. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  27. ↑ Olympiasieger, Politprofis und Schauspieler. Olympic champions, professional politicians and actors (in German). Der Spiegel. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  28. ↑ "Merkel candidate Wulff wins presidency on third attempt". BBC News. 30 June 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  29. ↑ Brown, Stephen (30 June 2010). "UPDATE 3-Revolt mars German presidential victory for Merkel | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  30. ↑ "German's Left Party Candidate withdraws from Presidential Election | Forex News and Commentary by FXDD". Forex.fxdd.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  31. ↑ Gavin Hewitt (30 June 2010). "Merkel candidate Wulff wins presidency on third attempt". BBC News. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  32. ↑ ""Wahl zwischen Hitler und Stalin" - Deutschland - derStandard.at › International". derstandard.at. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  33. ↑ "Künast fordert "echte Entschuldigung" von Dehm für Hitler-Stalin-Vergleich". Der Tagesspiegel Online. July 2010.
  34. 1 2 https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_C1kTRAvVwfKrzRV_V5M-Ut37VA
  35. ↑ "DHZ - Rot-Grün macht Linkspartei für Wulff-Wahl verantwortlich". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
  36. ↑ "Bundespräsident".
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