Conservative Klockner elected German parliament speaker
52-year-old veteran politician secures broad majority in 1st constituent session of new parliament following Feb. 23 elections
BERLIN
Conservative German politician Julia Klockner was elected president of the German parliament on Tuesday.
Klockner secured a broad majority in the first constituent session of the new parliament, with 382 out of 622 lawmakers voting in her favor. The Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and their prospective coalition partners, the Social Democrats, backed her candidacy.
The veteran politician, 52, first entered parliament in 2002. She served as agriculture minister in then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet from 2018 to 2021. She then became the Christian Democrats' (CDU/CSU) spokesperson for economic policy in parliament.
In the elections this Feb. 23, the Christian Democrats became the largest political group in the new parliament with 208 lawmakers, while the far-right AfD secured the second-largest position with 152 seats.
The Bundestag president holds the second-highest office of state in Germany, after the Federal president. By parliamentary tradition, this role goes to a representative from the largest parliamentary faction – now the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) after their victory in last month's elections.
