With the promulgation of the new German Constitution in 1949 the office of President (in German: Bundespräsident) was recreated. The modern President of Germany is elected by a specially convened body called the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) to serve a five-year term. In accordance with Germany's parliamentary system of government, the presidency is limited by a mixture of law and convention to being a ceremonial position. The President is, by tradition, a unifying presence and usually takes great care to steer clear of day-to-day politics. For that very reason, on rare occasions when the President does take a stand on a contemporary issue, he can expect to attract considerable attention and, if carefully crafted, his expressed viewpoint can carry great moral weight. [ - ]

With the promulgation of the new German Constitution in 1949 the office of President (in German:... [ + ]