President of Germany

The President of Germany (German: Bundespräsident, literally: federal president) is the head of state of the Federal Republic of Germany. His functions are mostly supervising and representative, because of the negative experiences with the office of its predecessor the Reich President (Reichskanzler), who had more power than the current Federal President. The president is elected every five years by the Bundesversammlung.

Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Logo
Standard of the President
Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier since 19 March 2017
Style	Mr. President (informal) The Honourable (formal) His Excellency (diplomatic)
Residence	Schloss Bellevue (Berlin) Villa Hammerschmidt (Bonn)
Appointer	Federal Convention
Term length	Five years Renewable once, consecutively
Constituting instrument	Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
Precursor	The Reichspräsident
Formation	24 May 1949
First holder	Theodor Heuss
Website	www.bundespraesident.de

The president is elected every five years by the Bundesversammlung.

List of presidents

1. Theodor Heuss (FDP), 1949 – 1959
2. Heinrich Lübke (CDU), 1959 – 1969
3. Gustav Heinemann (SPD), 1969 – 1974
4. Walter Scheel (FDP), 1974 – 1979
5. Karl Carstens (CDU), 1979 – 1984
6. Richard von Weizsäcker (CDU), 1984 – 1994
7. Roman Herzog (CDU), 1994 – 1999
8. Johannes Rau (SPD), 1999 – 2004
9. Horst Köhler (CDU), 2004 – 2010
10. Christian Wulff (CDU), 2010 – 2012
11. Joachim Gauck (Independent), 2012 – 2017
12. Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), since 2017