Annalena Baerbock has been selected by the committee of Germany's Green Party as the Green Party candidate to be the next German chancellor, as the country gears up for elections in September this year where Angela Merkel will exit the political stage.

The advent of the Green Party has coincided with its professionalization. It started off as a protest movement and an opposition party. It was divided into a left and a more conservative wing for many years. While that hasn’t changed completely, the party is now a true middle-class platform. 

"Today begins a new chapter for our party and, if we do well, for our country," Baerbock, 40, said at a press conference on Monday when she announced her candidacy together with party Co-chair Robert Habeck. The decision had been made jointly, they said, with Habeck stressing that he will also be involved in the election campaign. Baerbock and Habeck have been leading the party since January 2018.

According to the latest Politbarometer survey, Germany's governing conservative CDU/CSU union is looking to confirm its position as the largest party, with 31 per cent support. The Greens party are in second place, on around 21 per cent, but could still name the next Chancellor in a three-party coalition.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has already nominated Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while the CDU/CSU has yet to choose between the leaders of the CDU and the CSU, Armin Laschet and Markus Soeder, respectively.

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