Here’s my collage of Twitter pictures for Germany’s federal elections on Sunday. The consensus is that Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) is safely in the lead for a fourth term as German chancellor, but since there are seven parties vying for votes, it’s all about the second, third and fourth percentages of votes. This will determine the coalition that the CDU will have to form, to get to a governing majority.
Clockwise from bottom left: Martin Schulz (Social Democratic Party) thinks ‘I don’t think of it’ .. to call Sahra Wagenknecht (Left Party) who thinks ‘Why isn’t he calling?’; Christian Lindner of the Free Democratic Party as a ‘Simpsons’ character; Angela Merkel on posters; Alternatief fur Deutschland (AfD) plays up the safety and immigration issue (they are popular in the East); the Reichstag (building) in Berlin, home of the German parliament; each person casts TWO votes on the ballot: one for a local representative by name and a second, general vote for a party; the second vote determines delegates indirectly. Finally, a typical recent poll result shows that Merkel’s party and Martin Schulz (SDP) will be No 1 and 2, but it’s a neck-and-neck race for the rest. If the SPD gets less than 23%, it will be their worst showing since 1949. They used to be in the 40% range. And the far-right AfD is expected to be represented for the first time in parliament.
