Time for a thread on the German Bundestagswahl (Federal Election), that will be held on September 24th 2017. This hasn't been a huge topic so far and the campaigns have been called dull, because the outcome is pretty much decided and sitting Chancellor Merkel profits by keeping the campaigns abstract. As usual she refused to participate in more than one debate and strongly influenced the debate's characteristics. Still, as of now a high majority wants her back in charge. Here's a short summary of the most important parties: CDU (Christian Democratic Union): The conservative party of Chancellor Angela Merkel is in power since 2005. Merkel has a huge advance in polls and will confirm their status as most powerful political force in Germany. Their sister party CSU (Christian Social Union) can only be elected in Bavaria and is traditionally more conserative than the CDU. Last election: 41,5% Current poll: 36% SPD (Social Democratic Party): In the years as junior partner in coalition with CDU the SPD (2005-2009 and 2013-2017) lost profile as the labour party, hence Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz has no realistic chance to beat Merkel and end her 12 year reign. The SPD is Germany's oldest party and was once the voice of the man on the street, but couldn't translate this characteristic into 21st century. Last election: 25,7% Current poll: 22% FDP (Free Democratic Party): The Liberals (not to mistake with Liberals in America – FDP is considered the party of lawyers and doctors) stand for economic freedom and less red tape. They got kicked out of the parliament in 2013 after four disastrous years in power alongside CDU. The FDP resettled with young leader Christian Lindner and have a good chance to become the third power and maybe re-establish a coalition with CDU. Last election: 4,8% Current poll: 9% Die Grünen (The Greens): The eco-party has been founded in the 80s to fight nuclear power and today battles against pollution and social unequality. Due to their programm, there has to be a female and a male leading candidate, they voted Cem Özdemir and Katrin Göring-Eckhardt in. Last election: 8,4% Current poll: 8% Die Linke (The Left): Successor party of SED from DDR/German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The left extremists focus on social unequality/higher wages and want to disappropriate banks, stay out of any war and open Germany's borders. Their leading candidates are Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch. Last election: 8,6% Current poll: 10% AfD (Alternative for Germany): The nationalist newcomers will likely enter the Bundestag for the first time. They were originally founded to terminate the Euro and bring back Deutschmark, but have developed into a far right populist party, mainly fighting immigration and Islam. The faces of their campaign are Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel. Last election: --- Current poll: 11% - - - So it's safe to say Merkel will be the Chancellor for four more years. The main question is her coalition partner/partners. More about the election: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/world/europe/german-election-primer.html http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/31/europe/german-election-guide-trnd/index.html http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41094785 What about the Germans here on board? Do you already know who you will vote for next week or are you still undecided like myself? Where's your money?
Yes, according to the polls. If the election had been held in 2015, she might have gotten into trouble. I think the worldwide instabilities (ISIS, Russia/Ukraine, North Korea, Brexit, Trump) helped her re-establish and most voters seem to rely on her because they know what they get.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...cans-understand-the-upcoming-german-election/ One chart is very wrong though, AfD is far right now, to an extent where I could never get myself to vote for them, because of the nationalists and racists they have in the party.
Interesting. Erststimme is always about the candidate himself over his party, so usually CDU or SPD, because the local politicians from the smaller parties tend to lack qualities. Have you always been an FDP voter? Although I consider Lindner one of the few prominent faces or German politics who indeed promises innovation (stuff like lame ass Internet or mobile network in rural areas wouldn't have happened with him in charge), I'm not sold on him because huge parts of their programm reminds me of the lobby politics they have had during their last tenure from 2009 to 2013 under Westerwelle, Rösler and Brüderle, just working for corporations and not the people. I think it's a shame that the automobile industry is getting away so easy with their cheating and corruption in the Diesel affair. FDP would never pressure them.
Feel the same regarding FDP and don't think I could ever vote for a party which prioritizes a small, already wealthy (compared to hard-working people) part of the population instead of addressing some serious social issues. I'll vote for CDU, still trust Merkel despite the refugee disaster. Think it's easy for opposition to say they would've handled this in a completely different fashion, but it's a different tale when you are head of state and have 1mil refugees at your doorsteps. That, and the job Merkel did during/after the financial crisis was remarkable and I feel like she's the best option for the majority of people (maybe not for low-income workers, but not sure how realistic some of Linke propositions are). For info: Dad voting for Linke, brother SPD, Mom CDU/SPD, SIL CDU/SPD as well.
CDU seems like a rational choice at this point, I just can't support their marriage with CSU and therefore they won't get my vote. If you just look at the past years, it seems - except from AfD - all disasters in German politics have their roots in Bavaria, starting with that cheating fraud zu Guttenberg, over Seehofer and his provincial idiocy, not to speak of Dobrindt who totally ****ed up the Ministry of Transport in just a couple of years. I hope Austria and the Netherlands will sue us before that imprudent Maut (toll) he brought up will cost us hundreds of millions. Plus, as long as they don't arrive in 21st century and emancipate from that "C" in their name, I can't support them anyways. But I guess four more years of Merkel are not the worst to happen.
True on many accounts, but there's no perfect choice unfortunately. I've voted for SPD two legislations ago, but Schulz is a joke of a candidate to me and always comes off as a really fake person (trying too hard to appeal to common folks and be a nice guy). I take it you're voting for SPD?
I think Schulz would've been better off if he had shown up in the Bundestag for a few years and not just in the European parliament, which is not too popular over here anyways. Really hope SPD is going into opposition so they are free to clear their identity issues. From my background I'm way closer to SPD than CDU. My dad supports them because they introduced BAfÖG (cheap federal student loans) in the 70's, that made it possible for him to go to university and become a teacher, so he owes them a lot. Like myself he's not sold on them today, but will probably vote for them. Me, probably not. Still undecided.
You get to vote twice, or for two parties in some sort of order? Am I understanding that correctly? I know the method of voting often differs from one European country to the next.
A very simplified explanation is that your first vote is for your local candidate, and the second vote is for the party. More detail here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_system_of_Germany#Voting_system Since the candidates of the smaller parties will normally never win the local district, giving them the first vote would be a waste.
Thanks for the explanations, guys. I find this side of European politics fascinating. From time to time, the voting systems of Euro countries get some press in the States, but not much. Mostly, the British and French elections are written about and there can be some explanation, but not a lot. Countries like Germany are usually identified more by their leaders, and sometimes the political parties get mentioned. News sources here like the New York Times and the Washington Post do a good job of covering international news, often in depth, but most Americans still get their news from the 3 major networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC. In other words, the evening news. That's about 22 minutes of news, with 8 minutes of advertising scattered through it. More and more, I think people are looking at cable/streaming news. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox being the primary sources there. The more fringe sites got play in the last elections, which is disturbing, since they received more attention than they deserved, in my opinion. One of the things that really surprised me in the aftermath of the 2016 US elections turned out to be the influence of Facebook. I'm never been interested in Facebook, being more of a private person online, but the Russians obviously were, and it was very effective for them. As for myself, I cast a wide net when looking for news, and I'm far from being alone, but in general, Americans are shockingly uninformed.
It starts in school. We learned about the U.S. election system in English and Politics class (both obligatory), in my case the same with French. In a more and more globalized world, American students would benefit a lot by learning more about other cultures including political systems. Not going to happen, I know. Anyways, off to do my democratic duty. I hope every German here does or already has done the same. First results are in in two hours at 1800 CET.
Both you and ATW obviously speak, read, and write English extremely well, better than far too many Americans. I'm not surprised at all. It highlights a major flaw (one of many) in the our educational systems here. "We" seem to have little interest in turning out high school graduates that are bilingual, much less multilingual, which is so common in Europe. I think it hurts my country internationally. Some here will crow about how widespread English is, that we can travel almost anywhere and get by with English and a few words in the local language, and it is largely true. It also contributes to a widespread perception in many countries that Americans are arrogant and travel with a feeling of entitlement, and there is some truth in that. What Americans fail to realize is how much is lost in understanding a country when you don't know their language and make no effort to do so while there. Just "trying" to speak their language can make a huge difference. It can be the difference between a local taking a tourist's money with a shrug, and getting invited to someone's home, which is when you really start to understand another society, in my opinion.
SPD saying they will go into opposition, didn't expect that. Seems they've come to terms with their bad results and want to go back to their more social roots, probably the best choice going forward and to win voters back. Guess we'll see a CDU-FDP-Grüne collaboration, not really an ideal outcome to me, as all three parties aren't known to prioritize low income households and some of the more pressing social issues.
Great post and share your sentiments, just curious: At what age/grade do US students start to learn a second language? Here in Germany, I started learning English in third grade (age 9) and I think nowadays it's even earlier. Also had to take a third language (choice was between Russian and French, nowadays students can also learn Spanish etc) in 7th grade.
