German President Horst Koehler won a second five-year term yesterday, a victory that boosts Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of forming a center-right government after a national election this September
Mr Koehler, a former International Monetary Fund head and a member of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, secured the required majority by a single vote in the first round of voting by a special parliamentary assembly.
That was enough to see off a challenge from center-left Social Democrat Gesine Schwan, who was bidding to become Germany's first female president - a largely ceremonial job.
Ms Merkel said she was "very glad" about Koehler's swift victory. "We think he is the president Germany needs in this situation," she added.
The popular 66 year old won 613 votes in the 1,224-member parliamentary assembly, made up of lower-house representatives and delegates nominated by state legislatures. Schwan, who had hoped to force further rounds of voting, won 503.
The presidency is supposed to be above the political fray and carries little real power, but Schwan's challenge shook up the usually genteel election process and raised doubt over Koehler's re-election.
The vote came before Merkel and Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier, her foreign minister, face off in a Sept. 27 national election in which both hope to end their tense "grand coalition" of Germany's biggest parties.
As opposition leader, Merkel installed Koehler in 2004 with the help of the pro-business Free Democrats, her preferred future coalition partner. They backed Koehler's re-election, along with a smaller center-right group.
Merkel and the Free Democrats' leader, Guido Westerwelle, appeared together to congratulate Koehler.
"Every election has its own dynamics, but it is no secret that we are working to achieve a majority together," Merkel told reporters. "Today we achieved what we wanted together."
Senior conservative ally Horst Seehofer described the outcome as "a clear signal" for a center-right victory later this year. Still, Merkel failed to secure such a victory in 2005, a year after Koehler was first elected.
Koehler himself said he was "looking forward to the next five years." He added: "Dear compatriots, I promise you I will continue to do my best."
He said Germany has "a lot of work ahead of us" to emerge from the global crisis that has hit its export-driven economy hard, "but we will make it."
AP
Koehler often has positioned himself as an outsider to Germany's political elite.
He occasionally has refused to sign bills into law because of constitutional concerns, and recently warned politicians against using the crisis as a "backdrop for posturing."
A Koehler defeat would have been embarrassing for Merkel — but risky for the Social Democrats, with polls showing overwhelming public support for the incumbent.
Schwan, who already lost to Koehler in 2004, hoped to secure the opposition Left Party's support and peel off center-right delegates in later rounds of voting by the sometimes unpredictable assembly.
This year's state delegates included celebrities such as national handball team trainer Heiner Brand and retired boxer Regina Halmich.
Alongside them were politicians including Lower Saxony state governor Christian Wulff, who hoped to finish the voting in one round so he could get home in time to see Wolfsburg win its first German football league title.
The Left Party's long-shot candidate, television actor Peter Sodann, won 91 votes on Saturday. Far-right candidate Frank Rennicke won four, and there were 10 abstentions.