Following the announcement by prosecutors that they would seek to lift his immunity, German President Christian Wulff announced Friday morning he would resign as the country's head of state. Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her deep regret and said she would seek out a joint candidate supported by the major parties.

Photo: DPA.

The resignation of Wulff, Merkel's handpicked president, is likely to come as a blow to the chancellor and her party in the run-up to state elections in Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland.

Wulff resigned from office on Friday less than 24 hours after prosecutors said they would seek to have parliament lift his immunity so they could formally investigate allegations he accepted favors during his tenure as governor of the state of Lower Saxony. At the center of the probe are allegations that a film producer had paid for a vacation in a luxury hotel for Wulff during his time as head of a state government. Wulff has denied the allegation, saying he repaid the filmmaker in cash.

Wulff appeared shortly after 11 a.m. at his official residence, Berlin's Bellevue Palace, to announce his resignation. "I have enjoyed exercising this office," Wulff said during his five-minute resignation speech. "Our country needs a president who can address the massive national and international challenges unhindered."

"The developments of the last days and weeks," he said, "have shown that this confidence, and with that my effectiveness, has continued to be affected. For this reason it is no longer possible any more for me to perform the office of the federal presidency either domestically or abroad, as it is necessary."

"I have made mistakes," he said, before adding that he had always acted in a legally correct way in his offices.