Germany’s government today nominated the 50-year-old governor of Lower Saxony for the nation’s presidency, days after the previous head of state’s surprise resignation.
Chancellor Angela Merkel tapped Christian Wulff as her party’s candidate to replace President Horst Koehler, who stepped down Monday after appearing to link military deployments abroad with the country’s economic interests.
Standing next to a smiling Mr. Wulff at a press conference at the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, Ms. Merkel said he would make “a wonderful future president.”
“I’m happy that he is willing to go this way with the people during these difficult times, during a big global financial crisis, when the future of Europe is at stake,” Ms. Merkel said.
Mr. Wulff is a deputy leader of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats and is widely expected to be elected June 30 by an assembly of 1,244 state and federal lawmakers, where Merkel’s coalition has a majority. The opposition Social Democrats and Green Party said they would nominate a candidate tomorrow.
