Overview

• Sigrid Emmenegger won the required two‑thirds in the 12‑member Richterwahlausschuss and now advances to the plenary vote; she serves as a judge at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
• Lawmakers are slated to elect three judges on Thursday: SPD nominees Emmenegger and Ann‑Katrin Kaufhold, and the Union’s Günter Spinner, whose candidacies were already cleared in July.
• The Bundestag election requires a two‑thirds majority, so Union and SPD are courting support from the Greens and The Left to avoid relying on AfD votes.
• The AfD has denounced Kaufhold as an activist and says it has no issue with Spinner, while it has not publicly criticized Emmenegger.
• Left leaders criticized the Union for avoiding direct talks on Spinner and declared a conscience vote for their MPs, as Greens praised Emmenegger as respectable but stopped short of a firm pledge; CDU/CSU leader Jens Spahn voiced confidence the vote will succeed.