Berlin – German President Horst Koehler is standing for re-election on Saturday in what is expected to be a closely fought race with his main contender, a retired female professor.
Backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, Koehler, 66, is seeking a second five-year term for the largely ceremonial post.
Under Germany’s constitution, the head of state is chosen by a
1,224-member electoral college called the Federal Assembly.
The panel comprises all the 612 members of the Bundestag lower chamber and 612 public figures, a few of them sports heroes and television actors, nominated by Germany’s 16 federal states.
During the balloting, Merkel’s coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats, which has ruled Germany with remarkably little discord since 2005, will temporarily cease to apply.
The Social Democrats have decided against voting for Koehler, and have instead nominated academic Gesine Schwan, 65, creating a re-run of a competition that took place five years ago.
She has been stumping the country for months, wooing support from potentially wavering electoral-college members.
Two opposition parties, the centre-right Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Bavaria-only Free Voters (FW), have swung behind Koehler, ensuring on paper that he will have a two-vote majority.
But it is not certain all the FW voters will fall into line in the secret ballot.
Koehler’s chances of victory improved on Friday when the leader of the hardline Left party, Lothar Bisky, did not rule out some of its members voting for the incumbent, even though the party is fielding a candidate of its own, actor Peter Sodann.
If none of the contenders obtains an absolute majority in the first ballot, there will be a second round of voting in which a simple majority will suffice.
Koehler, an economist who once headed the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is generally perceived as a popular figure although he has occasionally upset conservatives by criticizing big business.
He has also used his powers to hold up legislation when constitutional court challenges to it were still pending.
If he were to lose it would be a major upset for Merkel as she prepares to campaign for a general election on September 27. (dpa)
Sienna Miller in trouble for calling Pittsburgh “S-sburgh”
New York, Apr 9 (ANI): Hollywood actress Sienna Miller recently got into trouble while filming ‘The Mysteries of Pittsburgh’, when she tried to sound rhyming and called Pittsburgh “S-sburgh”.
The journalist interviewing Miller picked up her fault, and blew the matter out of proportion.
“It was a stupid joke because it rhymes. In the hands of a responsible journalist, humor and sarcasm will be translated appropriately,” the New York Daily News quoted Miller as saying.
“It was not meant as disrespectful in any way. In England, we have great rhyming slang, and everyone spends their day rhyming. But for all the trouble that comment caused, there were many people who were supportive,” she added.
However, co-actor Peter Sarsgaard defended Miller, as he stated that her words were unnecessarily made the subject of controversy.
“If I said that, no one would’ve cared. But a pretty British girl says it, and everyone is ready to pounce, I’ve said crap like that. I’m from St. Louis. You know what I’ve said about St. Louis?!” Peter said.
“Nooo! All wonderful things. You can like a place and dis it at the same time. Take NYC. There’s garbage in the streets. What other city does that?” Peter added. (ANI)