President of Besmenia

President of Federal Republic of Besmenia
Präsident der Bundesrepublik Besmenien
Incumbent Sebastian Bergmann since April 20, 2015
Type	Head of State
Residence	Heraldsteinschloss, Laitstadt
Seat	Heraldsteinschloss
Nominator	Political partys or self-nomination
Appointer	Direct popular vote
Term length	6 years, renewable once
Formation	July 2, 1920
Deputy	President of the Federal Chamber
Salary	355,500 Spero annually

The President of Besmenia (Besmenian: Präsident von Besmenien) is the head of state of the Federal Republic of Besmenia.

Election

The term of office is about 6 years. A one-time re-election is possible. After the end of a term of office, a former president may no longer run again. Until 1942 the President was elected by members of the Federal Chamber. Karsten Herzog was the first president to be directly elected by the people in the 1942 Besmenian presidential election.

The presidential elections have been held by law every second Sunday in March since 1936.

List of Besmenian Presidents

The President is represented by the President of the Federal Chamber. If a president dies or resigns during his tenure, the President of the Federal Chamber takes over until a new president is appointed. This has happened twice so far:

• When Helmut Ritter died in 1930 during his second term in office, Wolfgang Stück took over the office as acting president, until the appointment of Hans Saalmann.
• When Karsten Herzog resigned during his second term in office in 1949, Viktor Ziesmar took over the office as acting prsident, until the appointment of Peter Schneider.

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	Party	Election
		Helmut Ritter (1852–1931)	2 July 1920	11 January 1930 †	9 years, 193 days	Independent	1920 1926
		Hans Saalmann (1873–1962)	2 March 1930	5 April 1936	6 years, 34 days	Besmenian Conservative Party	1930
		Georg Heimmann (1878–1976)	5 April 1936	12 April 1942	6 years, 7 days	Besmenian People's Party	1936
		Karsten Herzog (1890–1957)	12 April 1942	3 August 1949	6 years, 113 days	Social Democratic Union	1942 1948
		Peter Schneider (1896–1973)	3 October 1949	11 April 1955	5 years, 190 days	Independent	1949
		Oskar Stein (1901–1994)	11 April 1955	17 April 1961	6 years, 6 days	Social Democratic Union	1955
		Thomas Albrecht (1904–1985)	17 April 1961	16 April 1973	11 years, 364 days	Besmenian People's Party	1961 1967
		Erwin Pohl (1912–2001)	16 April 1973	16 April 1979	6 years, 0 days	Free Besmenian Citizen's Party	1973
		Tom Freiberger (1922–2017)	16 April 1979	15 April 1985	5 years, 364 days	Independent	1979
		Otto Schulz (1937-)	15 April 1985	14 April 1997	11 years, 364 days	Besmenian People's Party	1985 1991
		Dieter Schuster (1954-)	14 April 1997	14 April 2003	6 years, 0 days	Independent	1997
		Markus Kiesinger (1949-)	14 April 2003	20 April 2015	12 years, 6 days	Free Besmenian Citizen's Party	2003 2009
		Sebastian Bergmann (1958-)	20 April 2015	Incumbent	9 years, 253 days	Green Party of Besmenia	2015

Living former presidents of Besmenia

As of February 2021, there are 3 living former presidents:

• 

  Otto Schulz (age 87)
  (1985–1997)

• 

  Dieter Schuster (age 71)
  (1997–2003)

• 

  Markus Kiesinger (age 75)
  (2003–2015)