German president Steinmeier announces run for second term

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier gestures as he addresses the media at Bellevue Castle in Berlin, Germany May 28, 2021. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi

BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he would run for a second term of office next year, implicitly gambling that the likely winners of September's national election would not turf out a sitting national figurehead from a different party.

Steinmeier, 65, a Social Democrat (SPD) and former foreign minister, was appointed president under Chancellor Angela Merkel's previous conservative-SPD coalition government.