Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke) pleads for Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be re-elected as Federal President next year.

“Frank-Walter Steinmeier is doing a really good job as Federal President,” Ramelow told the FAZ. “He managed the country well during the difficult phase of the pandemic.

How he treats people convinces me.

We can really use such a personality, especially in the period after the pandemic, when we have to deal with a lot. "

Stefan Locke

Correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia based in Dresden.

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    In 2017, the Left had voted against Steinmeier and nominated the non-party emeritus professor of politics and poverty researcher Christoph Butterwegge from Cologne as their candidate for the office of Federal President.

    Steinmeier, as an applicant for the black-red coalition and architect of “Agenda 2010” and the Hartz IV laws, was at that time unsuitable for the left - and also for Ramelow - not for the highest state office.

    In the meantime, however, his point of view has changed, said Ramelow. He had seen Steinmeier several times in Thuringia, in particular on the 100th anniversary of the National Assembly in the German National Theater in Weimar in 2019 and on the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp this spring. The commemorative act for the 75th anniversary of the liberation, which was canceled a year ago due to the pandemic, was made up in mid-April under strict conditions, with Steinmeier also laying a wreath.

    "On these two dates, which are important for Germany and the German self-image, Steinmeier set important signals with his presence and his speeches," said Ramelow. In addition, the Federal President travels a lot in the country, listen and show empathy. Ramelow said that he was experiencing that Steinmeier's people felt that they were being taken seriously. Under the motto “Land in Sight - Future of Rural Areas”, Steinmeier had repeatedly traveled to the rural regions of eastern Germany, which were particularly affected by migration and aging, in order to get an idea of ​​the situation in direct contact with the people.

    However, Ramelow has not yet coordinated his plea with his party.

    He made his proposal "expressly as prime minister, not as a party politician," he said.

    However, Ramelow will ask his party to allow Steinmeier a second term of office, and he will also elect him if he himself becomes part of the Federal Assembly again.

    The Left Party has not yet decided whether to propose a candidate

    The Left - like all other parties - has not yet stated whether it will go to the next Federal Assembly with its own candidate. So far, Steinmeier, whose term of office expires next March, has left it open whether he will run again, but has not expressly ruled out a candidacy. In 2017 he was supported by the CDU / CSU and SPD, as well as by the FDP and the Greens, and was elected with almost 75 percent of the vote in the first ballot.

    FDP leader Christian Lindner also recently promised Steinmeier support for a second term. In addition, individual politicians from the CDU, CSU and SPD had also expressed positive support for an “extension” in the past few months. Ramelow, in turn, spoke out in favor of “a kind of bipartisan initiative” for Steinmeier's second term in office before the federal election in order to avoid a party-political dispute over the office of Federal President “in these difficult times”. In Berlin, however, it is assumed that the question will only be decided after the federal election.