In 1998, he was awarded a doctorate in law with a dissertation in legal history with the title Von altdeutschen Rechtstraditionen zu einem modernen Gemeindeedikt.

[3] He worked as a trainee and then as an editor with Bayerischer Rundfunk, a public-service television and radio network, based in Munich, from 1992 to 1994, when he was elected to the Bavarian Parliament and became a full-time politician.

During his time in office, he was also part of the CDU/CSU team in the negotiations with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) on a coalition agreement following the 2005 federal elections,[4] which paved the way to the formation of Chancellor Angela Merkel's first cabinet.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Söder was part of the working group on the environment, agriculture and consumer protection, led by Ilse Aigner and Michael Kauch, and the working group on health, led by Ursula von der Leyen and Philipp Rösler.

During his time in office, Söder was put in charge of overseeing the restructuring process of ailing state-backed lender BayernLB in a bid to win approval for an aid package from the European Commission.

[7] In 2015, Söder and his Austrian counterpart Hans Jörg Schelling agreed a provisional deal that settled the two governments’ array of legal disputes stemming from the collapse of the Carinthian regional bank Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International.

[8] Also in 2012, Söder and Minister-President Horst Seehofer filed a lawsuit in the Federal Constitutional Court, asking the judges to back their call for an overhaul of the German system of financial transfers from wealthier states (such as Bavaria) to the country's weaker economies.

[9] On Söder's initiative, Bavaria became the first regional government in Volkswagen's home country to take legal action against the carmaker for damages caused by its emissions-test cheating scandal.

[10] When Seehofer came under pressure after the CSU had suffered heavy losses in the 2017 national elections, he decided to remain party chairman but agreed to hand over leadership of Bavaria to Söder.

[12] In March 2018, lawmakers formally elected Söder as new Minister-President of Bavaria to replace Horst Seehofer, who had become Federal Interior Minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's new cabinet.

In January 2019, CSU delegates elected Söder to replace Seehofer as their leader with an 87.4 percent majority at a party conference.

The two men failed to come to an agreement by the given deadline of 19 April,[17] leading the federal CDU board to hold an impromptu meeting to break the deadlock.

In the programme, it is stated that the fight against pandemics, climate change and the defence of prosperity and freedom are global challenges and that the aim is to create a Germany open to the world, which strives for both modernisation and green policies.

"[30] In early 2018, Söder reiterated his opposition against any expansion of the eurozone to include countries like Bulgaria and Romania, the introduction of Eurobonds, and the creation of a European finance minister post.

He warned of a "huge security gap"[full citation needed] that remained because the whereabouts of hundreds of thousands of migrants was still unclear and he strongly doubted that the integration of so many people could succeed.