An interesting element of the Bavarian elections is the angle of Presidential politics. On the 23rd of May 2009, Germany will elect a new president.

The presidency of Germany is completely unlike that of the USA, or France. It's mostly a symbolic post. But it does carry - symbolic - importance. Germany's presidents have delivered some of the most important political speeches in German post-war history.

There is no direct vote for the President; they are elected by the 'Bundesversammlung', which is constituted by the parliamentarians in the Bundestag and representatives from (or people picked by) the local state parliaments.

The hypothetical composition of this body on the 23rd of May is, then, of great interest. The election will once again be a contest between Gesine Schwan and Horst Köhler. Last time, Köhler got a 1-vote majority.

And as DoDo wrote a few months ago:

European Tribune - Challenging a President

Something the CDU/CSU does, too. They are very angry [...] the situation is that the President will be chosen next year, but after the Bavaria state elections in a few months, the CDU+CSU+FDP majority behind Köhler will likely end.

However, the lacklustre performance of the SPD means that this will only happen if the Left Party gets into the Landtag. See the projections on wahlrecht.de. Currently, ARD is projecting that they will get 4,4%; ZDF 4.8%. Exciting!

(europauni/flickr.com)