An indirect presidential election (officially the 13th Federal Convention) was held inGermanyon 23 May 2009. The president of Germany is elected by theFederal Convention,which is made up of the members of theBundestagand an equal number of members elected by thestate parliaments.[1]
The Left(successor of theParty of Democratic Socialism) indicated they might be prepared to support Schwan if the SPD agreed to be open to cooperation with the Left on the federal level,[3]but ultimately decided they would present their own candidate.[4]The party nominated party activist and TV actorPeter Sodannon 14 October 2008; and it was left undecided whether the party would support Schwan if Sodann was eliminated after the first round of voting.
Frank Rennickewas nominated as the joint candidate of the far-right partiesNPDandDVU.
Following theHesse state electionsin January 2009, which strengthened CDU and FDP, and theFree Voters' promise to support Köhler, his reelection was seen as likely; however, CDU/CSU, FDP and Free Voters only had a slim majority in the Federal Assembly (50.16%), which made the election very competitive. In the end, Köhler was reelected in the first round of voting by 613 votes, which was exactly the minimum number of votes necessary. His nearest rival's, Social Democrat Gesine Schwan, received 503 votes making a second round unnecessary.[5]It has been seen by some as an important indicator for thefederal electionsin September.[5]
