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Who will replace Merkel?
The day before the German election, the race is still open
The outgoing chancellor has enlisted in favor of a replacement for Armin Lasht, who is faltering in the polls, and the gap with the Social Democrats has narrowed.
"Choose him for the stability of Germany," Merkel exclaimed.
The left and the Greens want more widespread change, but for environmental activists and Greta it is not enough.
"These are the choices of the century"
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Germany
Angela Merkel
Armin Lashit
Guy Ulster and the news agencies
Saturday, 25 September 2021, 12:02 Updated: 12:11
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The election campaign in Germany will come to an end today, when tomorrow the citizens of the country will go to the polls and decide who will replace Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is finishing 16 years in office. Uncertainty about the leadership of the strong economy in Europe is reflected in recent polls, which have indicated a narrowing of the gap between the Conservatives and the Social Democrats. Since neither party will win a majority that will allow it to govern alone, the question is who will form the next coalition - and with whom.
The last days of the race were relatively encouraging for Merkel's Christian Democrat party and 60-year-old candidate for chancellor Armin Lasht. Before the last polls, the party gets between 22% and 23%, a slight increase compared to previous polls. The Social Democrats, partners in Merkel's current coalition, continue to lead, but by a small margin, with 25%.
The Green Party, which at the beginning of the campaign made votes for a future ruling party, has deteriorated in public opinion in recent months after several oral remarks by its leader, Annela Barbuk.
However, being the third largest party in all polls almost certainly guarantees its place in the next government.
Global warming, felt in Germany over the past summer in the form of deadly floods, is one of the key issues in the upcoming elections.
Another key player is the pro-business Free Democratic Party, which wins about 11% in polls and has positions close to those of the Conservative Party.
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There is a free demo
Addressing mainly the adult audience.
Merkel and Asht at an election rally in Munich, yesterday (Photo: Reuters)
Both ends of the political map will have a significant impact on the identity of Germany's next government.
Although the far-right "Alternative to Germany" party is rejected by all other parties, it strives to take votes from the conservatives. If in 2017 it managed to take advantage of the immigration crisis to storm into the Bundestag for the first time in its history and become the third largest party, the issue is less relevant this year and it is having a hard time producing an agenda despite its opposition to corona restrictions. Polls predict a decline in power, but the high rate of hesitation leaves the picture open.
On the other hand, the far-left party Di Linke may be part of a left-wing coalition led by the Social Democrats, along with the Greens. For that to happen, the Social Democratic candidate for chancellor, Olaf Schultz, stressed, she would have to accept the traditional positions towards NATO and the United States.
"There are concrete conditions," said Schultz, 63, finance minister and Merkel's deputy in the current government, during the recent clash between candidates on Thursday.
"We need cooperation within NATO, we need good relations with the United States," the Social Democrat leader stressed in relation to the anti-globalist positions of the radical left-wing party, which won about 6 percent of the vote in the polls.
Schultz, in any case, is convinced That Germany needs a "fresh start," after Merkel's 16 years, under which he has served in recent years.
Does not rule out partnership with the extreme left.
Social Democrat candidate Schultz in Cologne, yesterday (Photo: Reuters)
Merkel, who has been ahead of Germany since coming to power in 2005, remains popular with the public and will remain in office until a new government is formed, a process that could take several full months.
In an effort to excite the conservative voters ’sleepy voters, Merkel rallied in favor of Lasht shuffling in the polls. "To keep Germany stable, Armin Lasht must be the chancellor, and the CDU and CSU must be the greatest force," the chancellor told an older electorate, using the initials of her Bavarian sister party.
Conservatives oppose raising taxes and increasing the deficit, while their center-left rivals believe a massive government investment is needed in light of the damage from the corona plague and the environmental challenges the future holds.
"The global environment will not benefit if companies move Mykmon, they will produce elsewhere in worse social conditions, under worse environmental conditions," warned Lasht, who appeals mainly to Germany's older electorate, which includes workers in Germany's vital industries.
While young voters tend to vote for the Greens, their share of the electorate - about 60.4 million Germans - is only about 15%.
Germany is one of the oldest countries in the world, and people aged 60 and over make up 38% of the electorate.
In all, all 598 permanent seats in the Bundestag will be elected tomorrow, but that number is growing in light of the complicated electoral system that combines personal and relative elections.
In the last session, for example, 709 MPs served.
In addition to the Bodnestag elections, there will be district elections tomorrow in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
"We must keep going out into the streets."
Greta at a demonstration in Berlin, yesterday (Photo: Reuters)
For the young voters, no party offers the radical change they need here and now, not even the Green Party. Yesterday hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Germany demanding to act more urgently and vigorously to protect the environment. The demonstrations were led by 18-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thonberg. After the Corona plague disrupted the young "Fridays for the Future" protest movement that ignited around the world, in recent weeks it has been revived.
"It is clearer than ever that no party is doing enough, even their proposals are not close to fulfilling the Paris Agreement," Thonberg said in a demonstration outside the Bundestag building in Berlin. "Yes, we must vote, you must vote, but remember that just voting is not enough. We must continue to take to the streets."
Luisa Neubauer, who heads the German branch of the protest movement, said her country, one of the biggest polluters in the world, has an extraordinary responsibility to set an example as time to change destructive trends runs out.
"That's why we call them the elections of the century," she told AFP.
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