国际英语新闻：Christian Wulff becomes Germany's 10th President after three ballots

"I have decided to withdraw," Jochimsen said. "But I've always said that both are not electable for us. Therefore our position in this political situation is to abstain," she added.

"Obviously I would imagine that neither conservative candidate is considered electable by our members," Gregor Gysi said.

The Federal Assembly must elect President within three ballots. A candidate must win an absolute majority, more than 50 percent of the votes, to win the election in the first and second ballots, while in the third ballot, a candidate who got a relative majority will become President.