Overview
- ZDF’s council office confirmed that journalist Floria Fee Fassihi withdrew her candidacy a day after being proposed, leaving Norbert Himmler unopposed.
- The election will take place in a public session with a livestream on 13 March in Mainz.
- Under the ZDF-Staatsvertrag, a candidate must secure 36 of 60 votes to be elected, with up to three ballots permitted.
- Seven formal applications were submitted in the open call, but only Himmler and Fassihi were formally proposed by council members.
- Recent editorial controversies, including a report that used AI-generated fake footage in the ‘heute journal’, have been cited as key points of criticism of Himmler.