2013 Elections in Germany

[freefair]

Prediction- big surprises ahoy!!
CDU 45.2%
SPD 25.7%
Greens 12.4%
FDP 7.1%
Left 5.1%
Pirate 2.6%
other 1.9%

[freefair]

Epic result for FDP if true (at 9.5 to 10%), yet dissapointing for CDU. Really expected a single party near-majority. SDGP Vs CFDU neck and neck as well. Nail-biter. I'll be supporting McAllister for Premier.

[freefair]

In a way this is good for both coalitions? Nobody did terribly or got embarrassed (apart from the Left)

[freefair]

I think it was a stupid move on the part of the CD/SU not to allow the FDP to win 3 or 4 direct district seats and allow it to enter the Bundestag at any vote percentage. Could it have been so difficult or damaging to find 3 retiring constituency MPs in safe seats, ask the local branch to stand aside, and tell CDU backers to "first vote" the liberals? That's what I'd have done.

[freefair]

Well, one can dream. I think that looking at the polls, the CDU, CSU, FDP are going to need to fight for every doggone single seat, tooth and nail, they can obtain especially if AfD (who are, lets face it, Germany's answer to Conservative Populism) or the Pirates surprisingly make it past the threshold. Given the difficulty of a Green or Grand coalition, it seems suicidal to be obeying this partisan code of honour right now, as giving them 4 seats (one for safety!) would effectively wipe out the threshold for just the FDP and give Black-Yellow a real chance of getting 299, or however many seats they need to govern stably.
The FDP are pretty much the liberal wing of the Merkel Party right now- If they fail to gain representation, the political consequences for Germany would from their point of view would be dire- when was the last time a workable traffic light coalition could have been formed?

[freefair]

There would be an even easier solution to that: End the charade of having the FDP around. (You'd probably not be losing a statistically significant number of votes that way. Some economically conservative gays, and, well, that's it. There are other people who genuinely prefer the FDP, of course, but their second choice should be not in doubt.)

Raising the questio why have "any" seperate market liberal/libertarian and christian democrat/conservative parties anywhere?Why do they exist? Why bother with the Left or the Greens? Why not go the whole way to it's logical conclusion and have a 2 party system everywhere??

[freefair]

How would Germany's 14-17 year olds vote ? Infratest Dimap polled 500 of them:

Is this more evidence of young people Worldwide are leaning more to the right, apart from their US counterparts who are moving to the left