Germany could be approaching a historic moment in its political history, with Ilse Aigner emerging as a candidate for the country’s first female president.
The 61-year-old Bavarian politician has been nominated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, potentially paving the way for a historic change at the highest level of the German state.
Since the end of World War II, Germany has had 12 presidents, all of them men. If elected in January, Aigner would succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier and become the first woman to hold the country’s largely ceremonial presidency.
Her candidacy has received backing from Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Social Democratic coalition partners and the opposition Green Party, giving her nomination support across several major political forces.
Merz has said that “the time had come” for a woman to assume the presidency, which, despite its largely ceremonial responsibilities, represents Germany’s highest state office.
From helicopter engineering to politics
Aigner’s potential appointment has also attracted attention beyond political circles. Before building her political career, she trained as an electrical engineer and worked in the field of helicopter technology.
Her candidacy has even inspired unusual public displays of support. German writer and television presenter Jörg Thadeusz expressed his enthusiasm by having the name “Ilse” tattooed on his left arm.
Photographs of Thadeusz showing the tattoo on television attracted considerable attention in German media, with some outlets describing the enthusiasm surrounding Aigner’s candidacy as the “Aigner wave.”
If elected in January, Aigner would make history as Germany’s first female president, ending nearly eight decades of exclusively male leadership in the country’s highest state office.
