German election 2021: Meet the parties' top candidates
Six parties are likely to be represented in the German parliament, the Bundestag, after the September 26 vote. Meet their top candidates, who will serve as the parties' high-profile spokespeople during the campaign.
Annalena Baerbock (Greens)
At the age of 40, Annalena Baerbock has been co-chair of the Greens since 2018. A jurist with a degree in public international law from the London School of Economics, her supporters see her as a safe pair of hands with a good grasp of detail. Her opponents point to her lack of governing experience.
Armin Laschet (CDU)
Armin Laschet is the national party chairman of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and serves as premier of Germany's most populous state. Conservatives routinely underestimated the jovial 60-year-old, who is famous for his belief in integration and compromise. But, recently, his liberal noninterventionist instincts have led to him eating his words more than once during the coronavirus pandemic.
Olaf Scholz (SPD)
Plumbing new depths with each election, the Social Democrats (SPD) decided to run a realist rather than a radical as their top candidate in 2021. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, and Merkel's deputy in the grand coalition, is seen as dry and technocratic. The 62-year-old surprised his followers with his good showing in the polls.
Christian Lindner (FDP)
The 42-year-old media-savvy Christian Lindner joined the Free Democrats (FDP) at the age of just 16 and has headed the party since 2013. The reserve officer and son of a teacher comes from North Rhine-Westphalia and studied political science. He hopes to join a ruling coalition after the September election, and the conservative CDU/CSU is his declared preference.
Janine Wissler and Dietmar Bartsch (Left)
63-year-old Dietmar Bartsch and 40-year-old Janine Wissler complement each other. Bartsch is from East Germany, a pragmatist who has led his parliamentary party since 2015. Far-left Wisseler hails from western Germany and has been the party's co-chair since February. She represents the Left's more radical positions, such as the immediate end to military missions abroad and all weapons exports.
Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla (AfD)
Co-chair Tino Chrupalla, 46, joined the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in 2015, attracted to its anti-immigration platform. The painter and decorator from Saxony has been an MP since 2017 and backs the extreme-right wing, but urges moderate campaign language. Alice Weidel, a 42-year-old economist, is the co-head of the AfD in the Bundestag and one of the party's best-known faces.
These politicians will be their parties' most prominent spokespeople during the campaign and will play an important role going forward. Should their parties end up in government, they would be sure to hold ministerial posts.