Former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Germany's president on Sunday (February 12), the 12th person to hold the largely ceremonial post in the post-war era.
Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who served as foreign minister until last month, won 931 of the 1,239 valid votes by lawmakers and representatives of Germany's 16 federal states. There were 103 abstentions and 14 votes were invalid.
After Bundestag president Norbert Lammert announced the results, all representatives held a standing ovation except for a few dozen members of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The anti-immigrant AfD, which has no lawmakers in the lower house but holds seats in 10 of Germany's 16 state parliaments, is forecast to be the third-largest party after a general election on Sept. 24. The AfD filed its own candidate, who received 42 votes.
Without referring to any parties, Steinmeier addressed the rising threat from the far-right ahead of the German election.
The German constitution mandates that a special assembly is convened to elect presidents. It includes 630 lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house and an equal number of representatives from the federal states. Current President Joachim Gauck steps down on March 18.