(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Germans do not elect the country’s federal president in direct ballots but, if they could, they would support Joachim Gauck this year, according to a poll by Forsa released by Stern. 42 per cent of respondents would vote for Gauck, who is backed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party (DG).
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Germans do not elect the country’s federal president in direct ballots but, if they could, they would support Joachim Gauck this year, according to a poll by Forsa released by Stern. 42 per cent of respondents would vote for Gauck, who is backed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party (DG).
Gauck is known for his role in investigating the activities of the Stasi secret police in East Germany.
Christian Wulff, deputy leader of the governing Christian-Democratic Union (CDU), is second with 32 per cent.
In November 2005, CDU leader Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first female head of government following a federal election. Her "Grand Coalition" administration featured members of the CDU, the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) and the SPD.
In September 2009, German voters participated in a new federal election. Final results gave the CDU-CSU 33.8 per cent of the vote and 239 seats, followed by the SPD with 23 per cent and 146 mandates. This time, Merkel invited the FDP to form a government, and appointed its leader Guido Westerwelle as foreign minister.
The Federal Convention, a body that encompasses the Federal Diet as well as delegates from the country’s 16 states, will elect a new president on Jun. 30. Wulff has been nominated by Merkel to replace Horst Koehler, who tendered his resignation after saying that Germany sometimes needs to deploy troops to places like Afghanistan "to protect our interests—for example free trade routes." More than 4,600 German soldiers are currently serving in Afghanistan.
The two current coalition partners have a larger number of votes in the Federal Convention, so a victory for Wulff is expected. However, Merkel has been under great pressure lately over the handling of Europe’s debt crisis, specifically in Greece, and the introduction of a major austerity package that has angered unions.
On Jun. 14, Jorg-Uwe Hahn, head of the FDP branch in Hessen, declared: "Either we get things sorted out in Berlin, or it will soon be the end for the coalition."
Polling Data
If you could vote for the federal president directly, which one of these two candidates would you vote for?
|
Joachim Gauck
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42%
|
|
Christian Wulff
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32%
|
|
Neither / Not sure
|
26%
|
Source: Forsa / Stern
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 German adults, conducted on Jun. 7, 2010. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
