Sunday, February 12 , 2017 - 7:25 (EET) Section: KXAN (USA)
BERLIN (AP) — A German parliamentary assembly will elect the country’s new president on Sunday, and the country’s former foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is the overwhelming favorite to win.
The German president has little executive power, but is considered an important moral authority. The new head of state will succeed Joachim Gauck, a 77-year-old former pastor and East German pro-democracy activist who isn’t seeking a second five-year term because of his age.
The president is elected by a special 1,260-member assembly made up of the 630 lawmakers in parliament’s lower house and an equal number of representatives from Germany’s 16 states.
Steinmeier, Germany’s
Source: KXAN
Sunday, February 12 , 2017 - 7:25 (EET) Section: KXAN (USA)
BERLIN (AP) — A German parliamentary assembly will elect the country’s new president on Sunday, and the country’s former foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is the overwhelming favorite to win.
The German president has little executive power, but is considered an important moral authority. The new head of state will succeed Joachim Gauck, a 77-year-old former pastor and East German pro-democracy activist who isn’t seeking a second five-year term because of his age.
The president is elected by a special 1,260-member assembly made up of the 630 lawmakers in parliament’s lower house and an equal number of representatives from Germany’s 16 states.
Steinmeier, Germany’s
Source: KXAN
