Assistant Chief of Staff, G5 

Colonel Brad Ward

R4

Election of the Eight German (Postwar) President

23 May 1999

Introduction

Johannes Rau (68), President-Elect, will be inaugurated on 1 July 1999. Following Art. 56 of the German Constitution, he will take his oath of office before the jointly convened members of the Federal Parliament (Lower House) and the Federal Council (Upper House). On 23 May, the Federal Assembly elected Rau with 690 of 1,332 valid votes with 8 abstentions in the second ballot, twenty in excess of the 670 votes, which were required for an absolute majority in this process. The Federal Assembly is a constitutional body, which convenes only for the purpose of electing the Federal President. It consists of the members of the Federal Parliament and an equal number of members from the state parliaments, amongst them individuals who are not elected but nominated to represent the state parliaments in the Federal Assembly. Rau succeeds Roman Herzog, a CDU/CSU candidate, former law professor and retired President of the Federal Constitutional Court. With Berlin now being the capital again, the Federal President has his official headquarters in Berlin’s Schloß Bellevue. But the Raus have already stated that they prefer a private residence elsewhere in Berlin in order for their three children to grow up under more ordinary circumstances.

Biographical Data

Personal Development

Rau, born in Wuppertal-Barmen in 1931 as son of an Evangelist and Preacher, became at an early age a member of the Confessional (Protestant) Church, which, in contrast to the official church, was in opposition to the NS regime. After the premature death of his father, he completed an apprenticeship in the bookseller’s trade and worked as a journalist.

His political mentor was Gustav Heinemann, a man whose family history conveyed strong republican-democratic convictions, ever since the unsuccessful revolution of 1848. Gustav Heinemann (1899-1976), himself a leading member of the Confessional Church and in strong opposition to the NS regime, a lawyer, economist, and former federal justice minister, was the first Social Democrat to become Federal President in postwar Germany (1969-1974). Johannes Rau, the eighth President, will now be the second Social Democrat as head of state since the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.

Political Career (Excerpts)

Both Rau and Heinemann became members of the Social Democratic party in 1957. Rau was a member of the State Parliament of Northrhine-Westphalia from 1958 to 1998. In 1970 he became Minister of Science and Research. He served as Minister President (Governor) of the State of Northrhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998, when he resigned from office. In the 1994 presidential elections, the Social Democrats had nominated Rau as candidate as well. But, with the political landscape being dominated by a Conservative-Free Democratic coalition government at the federal level, the Social Democrats were unable to muster the necessary number of votes for Johannes Rau.

Personal Data

            Rau has been married since 1982 to Christina Rau, née Delius, a grand daughter of former Federal President Gustav Heinemann. The couple has two daughters, 16 and 14 years old, and one son, 12. The 42-year old Christina Rau was educated in Scotland and attended the London-based King’s College, where she enrolled in "Wars Studies". While she has been accustomed to the environment of political and diplomatic elites since her childhood, she is believed to make a particular effort to maintain the necessary degree of privacy for her family.

The German Presidency

            Because of Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which granted the President almost quasi-dictatorial powers in times of emergency that weakened parliamentary democracy, the framers of the 1949 Constitution envisaged a President, not directly elected by the people, whose tasks are mainly, but not solely, of a representational nature.

·        According to the Basic Law (Constitution) the Federal President is elected for a five-year term and may only be reelected once (Art. 54).

·        The Federal President represents the Federal Republic in its international relations and concludes agreements with foreign states in its name. He also accredits and receives ambassadors (Art. 59).

·        The Federal President appoints and dismisses federal judges, federal civil servants, officers and non-commissioned officers of the armed forces. He has the right to pardon convicted criminals (Art. 60).

·        Based on the majority situation in Parliament, the Federal President proposes a candidate for the office of Federal Chancellor, and, in response to proposals from the Chancellor, appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers (Articles 63, 64).

·        If the Chancellor seeks but fails to gain a vote of confidence, the Federal President may dissolve the Federal Parliament, the Bundestag (Art. 63,4).

·        The Federal President countersigns laws and publishes them in the Federal Law Gazette (Art. 82). Constitutional scholars accord him the right to check whether the laws have come about by the proper constitutional procedure and whether they are constitutionally sound (cf. Jäger, 1994, 129).

While the office of the Federal President does not permit its incumbent to play a particular role in the political decision-making process, it is nonetheless of specific value in the present system of government, and its significance may increase in future. Because the office is not exposed to "instant politics" and because it must rise above controversies of general party-politics, the Federal President can exercise considerable personal authority in matters fundamental to both the individual citizen and the state. In fact, almost all Federal Presidents assumed important mediating and consensus-building functions (Jäger, 1994, 182-84).

Thus, in his acceptance speech, Johannes Rau called for efforts, which must be made to overcome the differences still existing between East and West Germans. Equally relevant with respect to the ongoing citizenship controversy, he stated that he wanted to be available as well for all those not in possession of a German passport. Rau addressed issues that represent cleavages along Conservative Party lines. While he supports NATO’s endeavors in the Kosovo crisis, he expressed the hope that diplomatic efforts would prevail in the near future.

The Contenders

Nomination for the Federal Presidency is a matter of party politics and alignments. Additionally, this year’s election was marked by some "firsts": For the first time ever, the CDU/CSU nominated a female candidate; for the first time, two women, the second one being nominated by the PDS, were challenging the frontrunner; and for the first time relatives had become contenders.

            Dagmar Schipanski (55), Professor of Physics at the Technical University of Ilmenau, Thuringia, East Germany, was the nominee of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), without being a party member. She got 572 votes from the Federal Assembly. Since the CDU/CSU had together only 547 Assembly votes, Schipanski obviously got the remaining votes from the former coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP). Following political rumors, she may be heard of in East German politics in future.

            Uta Ranke-Heinemann (71), nonaligned, retired Professor of Theology and daughter of the late Federal President Gustav Heinemann, was the Party of Democratic Socialism’s (PDS) nominee. Ranke-Heinemann, whose niece is married with Johannes Rau, accepted the PDS nomination because of her opposition to the ongoing bombing of Yugoslavia. Ranke-Heinemann got 67 in the first and 62 votes in the second ballot.

An ardent pacifist and peace activist, she visited Vietnam in 1972. Although from a prominent Protestant family, she converted to Catholicism and acquired the venia legendi (right to teach in a German university) in Catholic theology, allegedly as the "first woman world-wide" ("Phoenix", German Information Channel, 23 May 99). She taught in this field for many years, but got in conflict with a Papal Committee over Catholic dogmas she considers incompatible with logical analysis.

While Ranke-Heinemann wanted to support the PDS anti-war position, she stated at the same time, that she would not entertain any relations with this party, but return to her theological research.

Sources: Wolfgang Jäger, Wer regiert die Deutschen? Edition Interfrom, Zürich 1994;

Ulrike Nikel, Ed., Politiker der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, ECON, Düsseldorf, 1985;

Berliner Zeitung, 25 May 99, at 1, 3, 4; Frankfuter Allgmeine, 25 May 99, at 1, 2, 3; Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 16 May 99, at 3; taz online, 25 May 99, at www.taz.de; Grundgesetz (Basic Law), Ed. Deutscher Bundestag, 1996; Deutscher Bundestag: Bundespräsident/Bundesversammlung, www.bundestag.de.

 Prepared, 26 May 99, by AETV-GE, DSN 370-5511

 PPROVED BY: Deputy G5

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