BSW nominates former Tagesschau presenter Constantin Schreiber to Saxony's federal assembly delegation

Saxony names its delegates

On 5 November 2026 the Saxon state parliament in Dresden elected the state's representatives to the Federal Convention, which meets in Berlin on 30 January 2027 to choose Frank-Walter Steinmeier's successor as federal president. Saxony sends 33 members to the gathering. The assembly totals 1,260 members, made up of the 630 Bundestag deputies and an equal number of delegates sent by the states. The CDU put forward the Holocaust survivor Renate Aris and former federal minister Thomas de Maizière, while the Greens nominated the Leipzig writer Martina Hefter. The state parliament administration in Dresden confirmed that Aris travels to Berlin as a CDU delegate. Also on the list are state parliament president Alexander Dierks and Minister-President Michael Kretschmer, both CDU, along with social minister Petra Köpping and economy minister Dirk Panter of the SPD. The delegation thus combines state leaders, government members and parliamentarians from the CDU, SPD, Greens and BSW.

Schreiber's path to the seat

The BSW parliamentary group nominated the 47-year-old journalist at short notice and placed him fourth on its candidate list, which was published on 4 November 2026. Constantin Schreiber was one of the presenters of the 20.00 Tagesschau edition from 2021 to 2025. He began work as a Global Reporter for Axel Springer in September 2025, but in July 2026 it became known that he would leave the publisher by the end of 2026. He has said he wants to return to Arabic-language television and plans to moderate Islam Talk twice a month on the Egyptian channel Azhari TV. Schreiber has worked on Arabic-language formats before and has written several books about Islam. The Saxon delegation therefore includes a former national news presenter alongside experienced state officials.

The race for the candidacy

No one has yet been formally put forward as Steinmeier's successor. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU has said a woman should take the office, but he has not named anyone. The name most discussed is Ilse Aigner, the CSU politician who presides over the Bavarian Landtag. The CSU supports her candidacy, and several CDU minister-presidents have openly backed her, including all three East German CDU minister-presidents. Michael Kretschmer, the Saxon minister-president, has said he would like Aigner to become the Union's joint candidate. A final decision on the candidacy is still pending, so the composition of the vote remains open as of 5 November 2026.