Ilse Aigner, a 61-year-old Bavarian, is expected to be elected Germany's first female president in January 2027. She has been put forward as a candidate by Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democrat (CDU) party and also has the backing of his Social Democrat partners and the opposition Greens.
If elected, Aigner will succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier in what is described as a largely ceremonial role, despite being Germany's highest state position. Germany has had 12 male presidents since the end of the second world war.
Aigner, who previously served as agriculture minister from 2008 to 2013 under Angela Merkel, has a vocational qualification as an electrical engineer specialising in manufacturing helicopters. She began her political career in local politics 30 years ago and entered the Bundestag in 1998.
Some, like liberal writer Jörg Thadeusz, have expressed enthusiasm for Aigner, while the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has criticised her for declining to present herself to them as a candidate.