German parties agree on new President

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the centre-left opposition agreed on late Sunday to support Gauck as president, who was initially proposed by the Social Democrats and Greens.

The decision came two days after Christian Wulff, 52, resigned as Germany’s president amid allegations about receiving loans on favorable terms when he was state governor of Lower Saxony. Wulff is the first German president to face a formal criminal investigation.

Gauck, 72, who is not a member of a political party, earned the respect of the reunited German nation for running the archives on the East German secret police, Stasi, after the Berlin Wall came down.

“What moves me the most is that a man who was still born during the gloomy, dark war, who grew up and lived 50 years in a dictatorship … is now called to become the head of state,” Gauck said.

Gauck was the presidential candidate of the Social Democrats and Greens in 2010 against Wulff, a former Christian Democrat state premier and Merkel’s hand-picked choice for the largely ceremonial, but influential role.

Gauck’s victory is now assured with the backing of all the major parties in Germany and his election to the position next month should be a formality.

PG/JR

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