Quadriga

On 30 June, the Federal Assembly will choose a new German president to succeed Horst Köhler after his surprising resignation earlier this month. For Chancellor Angela Merkel the outcome of the upcoming vote is crucial. It could decide the future of her coalition government of conservatives and Free Democrats - and her political future.

Following days of speculation after Köhler’s resignation, Chancellor Merkel announced her coalition’s choice: Lower Saxony State Premier Christian Wulff.

Wulff is a tested politician, able to keep his calm even in heated debates. He wields considerable influence and has many supporters in the Chancellor's Christian Democratic party. Wulff is also one of the few remaining figures within the CDU who could have posed a challenge to Angela Merkel's leadership. Considered a political pick in a carefully weighed decision, charisma is not an attribute people often associate with him.

It's a different story for the candidate put forward jointly by the opposition Social Democrats and Greens. They've nominated Joachim Gauck, a former East German civil rights activist and theologian, who later administered the state archive for former East German secret police files. Their choice has proved highly popular across the board in Germany. Gauck is seen as charismatic, a brilliant public speaker and as someone who's above day-to-day partisan politics. Gauck and Merkel are said to be very respectful of one another.

The special election ought to be a foregone conclusion for Wulff. The conservatives and their junior coalition partner, the FDP, have a comfortable majority in the Federal Assembly that chooses the president. But delegates are not bound to vote strictly along party lines. As a matter of fact, some FDP state delegations have declined to give their backing to Wulff. If he's elected on the first ballot, then there's no need for Merkel to worry. But if voting goes into a second or third round, Merkel's bruised coalition will be further damaged.

What do you think? Power Electing the German President – A Tense Time for Chancellor Merkel

Send an email with your questions and comments to: quadriga@dw-world.de

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Our guests:

Margaret Heckel

Margaret Heckel - After studying economics in Heidelberg and the USA, Margaret Heckel completed her training at the "Georg von Holtzbrinck school of Journalism for modern business and finance journalism.” She then moved on to become the correspondent for Eastern Europe for the weekly publication "Wirtschaftswoche.” In 1999, she switched to the Financial "Times Germany," where she ran the economic policy desk and later was in charge of the political desk as well as managing the Berlin office. In 2006, she took over the political desk for “Die Welt,” “Die Welt am Sonntag” and the “Berliner Morgenpost.” Today she works as a freelance journalist and operates her own websites www.starkemeinungen.de and www.das-tut-man-nicht.de.

Quentin Peel

Quentin Peel - he is international affairs editor of the Financial Times. He is also an associate editor, responsible for leader and feature writing. He is working at the FT since 1975. Between 1976 and 1994 he served successively as southern Africa correspondent, Africa editor, European Community correspondent and Brussels bureau chief, Moscow correspondent, and chief correspondent in Germany. On his return to London he became foreign editor. He took up his present position in September 1998. He was born in July 1948 and educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he studied economics, with French and German.

Daniel Brössler

Daniel Brössler - following his time at university in both Munich and Washington, where he took courses in communication studies and politics, Mr Brössler attended journalism school in the Bavarian capital. Later, working as a freelance correspondent for the German news agency ”DPA”, he moved to Bratislava in Slovakia and then to Warsaw, Poland where he was based until 1999. After his return to Germany he worked with the influential daily the ”Süddeutsche Zeitung” at the foreign desk before going east again 2004 – this time as the paper’s correspondent in Moscow. Since 2008 Mr Brössler has been based in Berlin working as a parliamentary correspondent.