Polish President congratulates German President-elect
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
13.02.2017 08:21
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Sunday congratulated Germany's President-elect Frank-Walter Steinmeier with a message in Polish and German on Twitter.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (L), votes during the German Federal Assembly. Photo: EPA/Clemens Bilan.
“Sincere congratulations for the new President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier,” Duda said.
Steinmeier was elected by an overwhelming majority of the German Federal Assembly, a political institution made up of the federal parliament and representatives from 16 states which convenes for the sole purpose of electing the Head of State. Of 1,253 votes cast, 931 were for Steinmeier.
The social-democrat will on 18 March succeed President Joachim Gauck, who for health reasons did not stand for re-election.
Steinmeier, a lawyer by profession, served as chief of staff from 1999-2005 under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, and as Germany's foreign minister from 2005-2009 and from 2013 until January in Chancellor Angela Merkel's governments.
Steinmeier's election to a five-year term came as no surprise. He was backed by the coalition government, which holds 503 of 630 seats in Germany's lower house and is made up of the union parties – the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, of which Steinmeier is a member. (vb/pk)
Source: PAP, IAR