As of: January 9th, 2022 8:31 pm
The re-election of Federal President Steinmeier is almost certain – but the Left Party is now putting up its own candidate. The party announced that the social medicine specialist Trabert will be nominated.
Now that, after the SPD and FDP, the Greens and the Union have also spoken out in favor of a new term in office for Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, there is hardly any doubt that he will be re-elected.
Nevertheless, the Left Party has now decided to send its own candidate into the race for Bellevue Palace. The Mainz social medicine specialist Gerhard Trabert will be nominated as a candidate, a party spokesman said in the evening, thereby confirming a report by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ).
Trabert had previously explained his motivation for the candidacy in the SZ: “I would like to use the candidacy to point out the poverty and social injustice in this country, and to appear as an advocate for people who are not heard enough.” Although it is completely clear to him that he has no chance in the election – but maybe he could stimulate a discussion with his candidacy.
Commitment to the weakest
Trabert has long been committed to helping the homeless, the poor and refugees and is the founder and chairman of the association “Poverty and Health in Germany”. In the Bundestag election last year, he ran for the Bundestag in the Mainz constituency as a non-party direct candidate of the Left, but was not elected.
An official presentation of Trabert as a candidate for the office of Federal President is planned for Tuesday. The Federal President is elected by the Federal Assembly, which meets on February 13th. The Federal Assembly will have 1,472 members – the 736 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of people who send the 16 state parliaments.