The top candidates from all sides

Even if only the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) seriously believe they can provide a chancellor after the elections in September, all large political parties have their top candidates. DW presents the candidates, showing both their official and private profiles.

Angela Merkel, 59, knows what it is like to be the leader of the pack: She has governed Germany for the past eight years. Her political career began in 1989 in one of the first democratic parties in eastern Germany before she joined the conservative CDU. As chancellor, she rattled fundamental positions of the party - she ended military conscription and decided to phase out nuclear energy.

Merkel, arguably the most powerful woman in the world, loves to enjoy nature. Her two favorite activies are hiking with her husband and cooking. Merkel grew up in the former German Democratic Republic where she also studied physics. "Natural sciences were my thing, also because the East German government could hardly interfere in the laws of nature," she says on her website.

"Never again" does SPD chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrück, 66, want to govern with Angela Merkel. From 2005 to 2009, he was finance minister under Merkel in the grand coalition with the SPD and CDU. On the campaign trail, the economist is calling for a minimum wage and price caps on rents - and always with plenty of irony and provocative statements.

Peer Steinbrück has been playing chess since the age of six. When he's not competing against a world champion, he's trying to beat a chess computer. The SPD chancellor candidate once described chess as a game in which a person always tries to be better than his opponent. "But since I've been competing with a chess computer, this is simply hopeless."

Everyone should feel represented by the two Green Party candidates: Katrin Göring-Eckardt, 47, is rather middle-class and Jürgen Trittin, 59, is from the party's left wing. She comes from eastern Germany, he is from western Germany. Both are calling for higher taxes on high earners and both were elected in a general membership vote - a first in Germany.

Green Party top candidate Jürgen Trittin wasn't overly concerned about capsizing on a recent river canoe trip: The former environment minister is used to precarious situations at demonstrations where he particularly likes to protest for greater environmental protection and against racism. But the sociologist is mum on his private life.

From her father, who ran a dance school in the former East Germany, Katrin Göring-Eckhardt learned how to move on the dance floor and participate in dance tournaments. Since then, she's not been worried about major appearances. That comes in handy for the mother of two sons who has put her work as president of the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany on hold during her candidacy.

Rainer Brüderle, 68, top candidate of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), is a business-minded politician through and through. Economic issues have dominated his work from his start in Mainz to his position as economy minister. After the FDP suffered big losses in state elections, Brüderle resigned all positions in 2011 and became the party leader in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament.

In mid-June, Rainer Brüderle broke a leg and an arm in a fall. The week-long rehab at Tegernsee is now behind him. The 68-year-old politician admits to being annoyed by the length of his recovery during the campaign. The full-blooded politician keeps his private life private. What's known is that he is married, evangelical and a resident of Mainz.

Left party deputy leader Sahra Wagenknecht, 44, and party leader in parliament, Gregor Gysi, 65, don't particularly like each other and certainly have no interest in working together. But both form the top team heading the Left party's election campaign. Six other candidates are also helping out - to keep the two from getting into each other's hair.

Sahra Wagenknecht is actually considered to be a loner, but she shares her private life with Oskar Lafontaine, the former chairman of the Left party. "I need my freedom and time to read and think," she says about herself. She likes to delve into topics and research them. The politician with a PhD originally wanted to become a scientist.

As a child, Gregor Gysi synchronized Soviet film comedies. His friends kid him whenever his name appears in the credits. Today, he prefers to speak about theater, read essays and listen to classical music. The trained lawyer used to pore over files like a madman late into the evening. Now he can let them wait a day or so. Gysi needs to be careful: He has a heart condition.