Berlin, 25 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The German Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, is scheduled to convene for its constituent session on Tuesday following the elections of February 23, with lawmakers set to elect a Bundestag president.

The session is to be opened by Gregor Gysi, the longest-serving member of parliament, who will preside over the meeting until a new Bundestag president is elected.

The conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group of Friedrich Merz, Germany's presumptive next chancellor, nominated experienced politician Julia Klöckner to be the next Bundestag president.

Traditionally, the largest parliamentary group, which in the new parliament is the conservative alliance comprised of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU), fills this post.

The Bundestag president occupies the second-highest office of state after the federal president, so in protocol terms this is superior in rank to the chancellor and the president of the upper house, the Bundesrat.

The president opens and closes sittings, calls items of business and grants lawmakers permission to speak.

The outgoing Bundestag president is Social Democrat Bärbel Bas.

Klöckner, 52, would be only the fourth woman to hold the post.

Once the Bundestag president is chosen, the focus will shift to the election of the president's deputies, with particular attention on whether the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will secure a vice-presidency for the first time.

Since the AfD's entry into the Bundestag in 2017, its candidates have failed to garner enough votes from other parliamentary groups to secure the position.

MIA file photo