German president Steinmeier announces run for second term
05/28/2021 10:15
BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he would run for a second term of office next year, implicitly gambling that the likely winners of September's national election would not turf out a sitting national figurehead from a different party.
Steinmeier, 65, a Social Democrat (SPD) and former foreign minister, was appointed president under Chancellor Angela Merkel's previous conservative-SPD coalition government.
But the SPD is running a distant third in election polls, meaning it is unlikely to play a role in Germany's next government. If so, Steinmeier would be relying on a German convention of respect for sitting presidents to hold on to office.