Profile: Edmund Stoiber

Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber

BERLIN, Gemany (CNN) -- Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber is running for the post of German chancellor in the September 22 election under the joint banner of the Christian Socialist Union and its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Stoiber was born on September 28, 1941, in the German town of Oberaudorf.

His father was a businessman from Upper Palatinate, and his mother was from the German region of Rheinland.

Education

EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Germany Decides 2002

After his school-leaving exam, Stoiber entered military service in Bad Reichenhall and Mittenwald in the mountain division.

After his service, he studied jurisprudence and political science in Munich, then began working at the University of Regensburg after taking the first state law examination in 1967.

He took the second law exam in 1971 then completed a doctorate.

Career in politics

Stoiber entered the Bavarian state parliament in 1974, where he developed a "good personal acquaintanceship" and "seamless political agreement" with then-CSU chairman and Bavarian premier Franz Josef Strauss.

In the 1978 state election, Stoiber was one of four CSU candidates who bucked the trend and gained votes -- after which he became CSU secretary-general and Strauss's right-hand man.

After Strauss's death in 1988, Stoiber became interior minister in the cabinet of new Bavarian premier Max Streibl.

In 1993 Stoiber became Bavarian prime minister. At state elections in 1994, the CSU achieved an absolute majority and Stoiber was re-elected as head of the Bavarian government.

He became CSU chairman in 1998 after Theo Waigel resigned.

Leading CSU politicians tried to push Stoiber to run for chancellor in early 2001, but he repeatedly said he wanted to remain Bavarian prime minister.

A year later, though, Stoiber became a candidate representing both the CSU and the CDU, after CDU leader Angela Merkel announced she would not enter the race.