Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected by the Federal Assembly, made up of 630 federal members of parliament and delegates from 16 states. This centre-left politician received 931 of 1260 votes. Former president, Joachim Gauck did not decide to run in the next elections, because of his age and he will step down on March 18. Steinmeier previosuly was a vice chancellor and foreign minister under chancellor Angela Merkel. In his speech Steinmeier said: “Let’s be brave, because then we don’t have to be afraid of the future”. He also mentioned that we live in tough times and Germany should be a role model state for other nations.

He emphasized democracy and freedom as a most important values of the European Union community. He beat other candidates including right-wing politician Albrecht Glaser from Alternative for Germany (AfD), left-wing sociologist Christoph Butterwgge and judge Alexander Hold. The German president has little executive power, but is considered as an important moral authority.

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