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Delegates at the CDU party conference in Leipzig 2019: A lot of people in a small space
Photo: Nikita Teryoshin
It is a Monday evening at the end of August when around 300 SPD delegates gather in Rhineland-Palatinate for the party conference.
The chairman gives a combative speech, everything is as it should be for a successful party congress.
Actually.
In his speech, Roger Lewentz, the SPD state chief, attacked Christian Baldauf, the CDU's top candidate for the state elections in six months.
"He's the great stranger," cries Lewentz.
"Half of the people of Rhineland-Palatinate don't know him!"
Soon he was "a bad speaker" and also "not capable of governing".
There are passages where the hall should really romp.
But the hall in Mainz is empty, apart from the party presidium, about 20 employees and a few journalists.
The delegates are only connected by video, the SPD Rhineland-Palatinate is holding its first digital party conference.
Instead of applause, Lewentz reaps silence.
The delegates vote online, they make speeches, and yet almost everything that defines a party congress is missing: the atmosphere, the personal encounters, the exchange in the smoking area.
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