“President Putin: Untie the noose”: Steinmeier surprises and Merkel reappears – politics

The mask can also be removed for a moment. Elke Büdenbender hugs her husband, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has just been re-elected President with 1,045 votes. The first congratulator is Gerhard Trabert, the left candidate.

Steinmeier will make him a special offer later. Then he first has to walk down a lot of stairs from the upper floor of the Paul-Löbe-Haus, where he followed the voting of the Federal Assembly.

Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) bridges the running-in period with instructions: bouquets and congratulations please only after the speech, oh yes, then the national anthem will be played first, “and not sung along, because of the pandemic”. Humming along is okay.

When Steinmeier reached the foyer, the CDU party leader Friedrich Merz nodded to him several times, as did Angela Merkel. The former chancellor, who has reappeared in public for the first time, is perhaps the most sought-after selfie actress that day.

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They had announced surprises at Bellevue Palace – and Steinmeier’s speech delivered them. She may be his strongest yet. He, who as foreign minister always campaigned for dialogue with and understanding for Russia, is declaring war on it here, at the celebration of democracy.

“I can only warn President Putin: Do not underestimate the strength of democracy.” He appealed to Putin: “Loose the noose around Ukraine’s neck.” In the front row, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is motionless to see whether he can find a solution during his visit to Moscow on Tuesday? Bas had previously appealed to reason in her speech: “Every war only knows losers.”

Steinmeier warns the 1,472 electors not to make themselves smaller than they are, democracy is strong. During his second term in office, he expects the conflict with authoritarian regimes such as China and Russia to intensify. Inside and outside he wants to declare war on all opponents of democracy.

Anyone who missed a clear edge with him will get it on the day. With a view to those who babble about a Corona dictatorship, he says: “There is a red line and it runs through hatred and violence.”

Steinmeier makes his opponent an offer

And then there is a gap that critics see in him, the former architect of the Hartz reforms: Does he care enough about the social gap in the country?

Steinmeier speaks directly to the social medicine doctor and presidential candidate Trabert, who got 96 votes.

Trabert has been committed to medical care for the homeless and refugee aid for decades. “With your candidacy, you drew attention to an issue that deserves more attention: the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable in our country.”

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Because of the pandemic, the Federal Assembly is taking place in the Paul-Löbe-Haus for the first time, spread over all levels, most of them are seated in the foyer below, the rest in 16 committee rooms and, like the candidates, on the galleries.

The Deutschlandfunk correspondent Stephan Detjen tweeted about the multi-level confusion of voters, in memory of the deceased father of the hidden picture books: “In memoriam Ali Mitgutsch” – the Federal Assembly as a hidden object of society. 2150 corona tests were previously carried out, twelve are positive.

Also because of other failures, 73 substitute delegates had to come into play in the end. The assembly is made up of the 736 members of the Bundestag and 736 electors appointed by the state parliaments.

Drag queen Gloria Viagra wants to support club culture

At the beginning of the day, some in the SPD almost tend to be overconfident. In July, hardly anyone would have bet that it all worked out that way, that the three highest state offices were all colored red. Manuela Schwesig doesn’t have to justify her attitude towards Russia today, she can accompany pop singer Roland Kaiser into the Reichstag building.

Under a bright blue sky, they stride across the square to the SPD’s roll call in front of the Federal Assembly. “More is not possible, chancellor and emperor for the president,” says the prime minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Kaiser grins.

Gloria Viagra is posing fifty meters away on the steps on the Spree, red, flowing hair, a rainbow suit, green high-top shoes. The Berlin drag queen is the biggest splash of color in this unusual federal assembly. And one that will deliberately not re-elect Frank-Walter Steinmeier that day.

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The Berlin Left Group has nominated Viagra. And she emphasizes that she will choose the social medicine doctor Trabert, who the left has nominated. “He’s just someone who sheds a different light on social injustice, poverty in this country, or at all,” emphasizes Viagra.

“Well, I recently had an experience where someone with infected legs and hands was walking down the subway asking for money for antibiotics. Why can’t he just go to the hospital?” And, now Viagra is really getting going, her participation is also a signal that the clubs finally have to open again.

“The fact that dancing is forbidden as a form of merrymaking, with a term from the days of the emperors, since the clubs are pushed into a corner of sin and illness.” The clubs are a very important place for social exchange.

From Biontech founder to national coach: celebrities also vote for the Federal President

After roll call, most of the voters go over to the Paul-Löbe-Haus. When Bundestag President Bas opens the meeting in an unusual place, one chair is empty, the one to the left of Steinmeier. This is intended for the AfD candidate Max Otte, Trabert and the physicist Stefanie Gebauer, nominated by the Free Voters (who did surprisingly well with 58 votes) sit on Steinmeier’s right.

Otte, previously a member of the CDU, has certainly caused the most fuss in advance – the CDU wants to throw him out. He’s not there because he’s doing a TV interview outside. He attests to the CDU’s discouragement at not having put up its own candidate. The “timing” was not so perfect, confirms AfD faction leader Alice Weidel Otte. But that many interviews don’t come after the day either. And with 140 votes, he gets fewer votes than the AfD voters had reported.

Bas emphasizes that the sectors with electors “of whom the pandemic has demanded a lot” are also deliberately represented. There is the emergency doctor Carola Holzner, known from talk shows, intensive care nurse Ricardo Lange, the virologist Christian Drosten and the Biontech founder Özlem Türeci – with the development of the mRNA vaccine, she and her husband have contributed to the prospect of overcoming the pandemic are.

And pianist Igor Levit is there to represent the shaken culture. Two federal ministers – Karl Lauterbach and Robert Habeck – snap him for a selfie: “Levit and two of his greatest admirers. The three of us have a good friendship. Today we are electing Frank Walter Steinmeier as Federal President,” Lauterbach tweeted.

National soccer player Leo Goretzka, national coach Hansi Flick and Freiburg coach – dressed casually in sweaters – are also popular photo motifs. And of course Roland Kaiser.

Gloria Viagra waves in her extravagant gown. Rapper and linguist Lady Bitch Ray, adorned with a bridal veil, takes off her mask for a short photo. The bag she carries with her reads: “Nazis out #noAfD”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks a little puzzled when Lady Bitch Ray suddenly stands in front of him with the bridal veil.

The oldest member of the Federal Assembly is 92-year-old Karla Spagerer, who lived through National Socialism.

Steinmeier will later say in his speech: “Look around in this large group: The fact that you are all here today, from all parts of our country, despite all the adversities of the pandemic, shows that we respect our democratic institutions. We know that this democracy thrives on the diversity you represent today.”

Merkel reaps welcome applause – some more, some less courageous

Bas deliberately does not personally greet any members, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz. She chose one lady to represent everyone: “Dear Mrs. Dr. Merkel, I welcome you on behalf of all those present in this Federal Assembly”. Long applause, but visibly restrained by the new CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who – fortunately? – is separated from Merkel by Ralph Brinkhaus, who is still leader of the parliamentary group.

The former chancellor looks well rested, having caught her breath after almost 16 years of continuous stress. Merz is trying to bring the Union back together again, and so he later talks to Merkel during a break together with CSU boss Markus Söder. His message: One Union. Lost the Chancellery, now still party leader and from next week also parliamentary group leader. Merkel had probably imagined the time after her differently.

Merkel and Scholz are also committed to talking to each other. While Scholz is currently avoiding contact with Gerhard Schröder, he recently consulted with Merkel on the Russian crisis – hardly anyone has negotiated with the Russian President as often and intensively as she has. Scholz does not have a closed season.

Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock are also heading towards Merkel, and Claudia Roth is also talking intensively to the former Chancellor, perhaps on cultural issues? Merkel now has more time to go to the concert again.

Roth fiddles with her bag and hands Merkel a business card. On this day, it seems as if Merkel is still chancellor. And while Steinmeier continues to accept congratulations, Health Minister Kar Lauterbach has found a new “photo victim”: Christian Drosten, today in a suit and tie, the Berlin Greens had nominated him. Lauterbach tweeted a photo of the two, along with the message that after these special hours, with echoing words, the pandemic was back to business: “We chose Frank Walter Steinmeier and are now preparing the measures against Omicron. The work just never ends…”