Conservative Klockner elected German parliament speaker

BERLIN

Conservative German politician Julia Klockner was elected president of the German parliament on Tuesday.

Klockner secured a broad majority in the first constituent session of the new parliament, with 382 out of 622 lawmakers voting in her favor. The Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and their prospective coalition partners, the Social Democrats, backed her candidacy.

The veteran politician, 52, first entered parliament in 2002. She served as agriculture minister in then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet from 2018 to 2021. She then became the Christian Democrats' (CDU/CSU) spokesperson for economic policy in parliament.

In the elections this Feb. 23, the Christian Democrats became the largest political group in the new parliament with 208 lawmakers, while the far-right AfD secured the second-largest position with 152 seats.

The Bundestag president holds the second-highest office of state in Germany, after the Federal president. By parliamentary tradition, this role goes to a representative from the largest parliamentary faction – now the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) after their victory in last month's elections.