The Germans go to the polls today. Approximately 60 million people have the right and privilege to vote.
The opinion polls are calling it a very close race.
Up to last week SPD candidate Olaf Scholz was ahead of CDU leader Armin Laschet, but in the last days it seems Laschet has made up ground, something he did in the election that won him the premiership of North Rhine Westphalia.
Scholz is a former mayor of Hamburg and current German finance minister in the Berlin coalition government.
The Catholic Church in Germany awards university scholarships, Canisius Scholarships, to gifted students. Laschet was the recipient of such a scholarship.
If the CDU win it most likely will be a CDU/CSU, Green, FDP coalition.
If the SPD win, they will most likely form a grouping with the Greens and the FDP or Die Linke. Die Linke has its origins in the SED, the ruling party in the former German Democratic Republic.
There is one unusual or strange aspect to the current opinion polls. This time last year both CDU and SPD were performing badly in polls, but the SPD even more so. Why are the polls giving them such a strong showing now? Can one man, in this case, Olaf Scholz, make such a difference?
The German election system is, to say the least, complicated. People vote for the party and also vote directly for individual candidates. It means the number of MPs differ from one election to the next.
There is also referendum tomorrow dealing with the right of the State to acquire property for personal accommodation, something on those lines.
It would be good for Germany, Europe and indeed democracy to see the far right AfD do badly in today’s elections. Then again, they might well cause a surprise.
For any party to sit in parliament it must obtain at least five per cent of the vote. This is to safeguard Germany from another Adolf Hitler.
38 per cent of today's voters are over 60 years go age.
Olaf Scholz to be next Gemran chancellor?
No comments:
Post a Comment