New German president to be elected in special parliament session June 30

New German president to be elected June 30

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched a fast-track search Tuesday for a new head of state, after President Horst Koehler’s surprise resignation left the country baffled and shocked.

Merkel canceled several government obligations and a trip to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to start consulting with her coalition’s leaders on finding a new president, to be elected June 30.

She said Koehler had given her only two hours warning before stepping down Monday, saying he felt unduly criticized.

“My heart was very heavy today because I know a lot of citizens appreciate him,” Merkel said Monday.

While many have speculated over possible replacements, Merkel said Monday night she had no candidate in mind and that the race was “completely open” — politician or outsider, man or woman.

She vowed to propose a candidate who “has a chance to be accepted by all” rather than just by the coalition parties that dominate Parliament, including her own Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union and the Free Democrats.

Opposition leader Sigmar Gabriel, of the Social Democrats, said on ZDF television that the opposition might come up with its own candidate if Merkel failed to find a candidate suitable to all.

Koehler’s resignation deals Merkel another blow at the worst possible time amid the lingering euro crisis and her unpopular efforts to cut a huge federal budget deficit.

A poll published Tuesday by the weekly Stern indicated Merkel’s party was supported by only 30 percent of voters, down two points from a week earlier. The Forsa poll surveyed 2,003 people May 25-28 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Politicians and commentators had no clear explanation Tuesday for why Koehler resigned.

Gabriel blamed Merkel, saying the president lacked support by the government parties which had him re-elected in 2009.

Koehler himself had said in his very brief resignation statement Monday he felt the criticism voiced after an interview he gave on the German military’s role in the world was unduly harsh. That criticism was first voiced by the opposition. Merkel had declined to comment on it.

The German president has a largely ceremonial job, but traditionally functions as the nation’s moral voice. Constitutionally, a new leader must be elected within 30 days of the resignation.

Parliament Speaker Norbert Lammert said he had set June 30, the last possible date, for the election, adding that he had specifically chosen a day when the German soccer team was not scheduled to play at the World Cup in South Africa so that all 1,244 federal and state parliament representatives would be free to attend the voting session.

Lammert refused to comment on speculation that he might be a candidate. Other names floated by the media and political backbenchers included Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen and former Bavarian Governor Edmund Stoiber.