(Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative candidate Christian Wulff was elected as Germany's 10th post-war president on Wednesday after rebels in the ruling coalition forced three rounds of voting before he won.
Here are five facts about Wulff:
* Wulff, 51, is a heavyweight in Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and was once mentioned as a possible future chancellor. However, he ruled himself out of the job in 2008, saying he was not enough of an "alpha male". He is one of the CDU's deputy leaders.
* Premier since 2003 of the northern state of Lower Saxony, which is home to Germany's biggest carmaker Volkswagen, he was re-elected in 2008 and fought to maintain the state's influence over VW.
* Wulff has led a CDU and Free Democrat (FDP) coalition in Lower Saxony, which reflects the federal coalition. Merkel had wanted his candidacy to reinforce her leadership but instead the three-round vote dramatised the divisions in her coalition.
Wulff is widely seen as a moderate conservative who is unlikely to rock the boat as president, a largely ceremonial post.
* As state premier he won praise for appointing Germany's first minister of Turkish origin, Aygul Ozkan, to his cabinet. However, she caused a stir by calling for a ban on crucifixes in schools, angering many Christian Democrats.
* His calm, personable manner has helped him to become one of Germany's most popular politicians. Wulff even kept his standing in the CDU after leaving his wife of 18 years to marry a press spokeswoman.
Born in Osnabrueck, Wulff is a trained lawyer.
