German Elections & Politics

[ApatheticAustrian]

YES

left party under 5% means the fdp must deliver....

this party is killing possible left coalitions since a decade...

[ApatheticAustrian]

In the last 37 years there were only 5 years when NRW was not ruled either by SPD/Green or SPD alone.

you are totally correct, i am ofc talking about other federl states and the national level, the left party in nrw is more or less powerless.

well, imho black - yellow is better than the "groko"....at least clear responsibilies.

[ApatheticAustrian]

   If just a tiny bit of the SPD or Green electorate had voted for Die Linke and thus put them over the 5% threshold there would be no possibility of a CDU/FDP majority. 

correct but the alternative would be even worse for left-leaning parties, imho.

[ApatheticAustrian]

hm, nah, i don't see it.

afd and fdp alone should prevent that possibility.

[ApatheticAustrian]

A federal CDU/CSU-FDP coalition would do a lot to redeem Merkel (unless she slowly sucks the life out of the FDP again).

redeem like...what?

she is going to do it anyway - she MUST do it, her base will be furious otherwise, even while the fpd is known to be an annoying partner - if the votes are there.

there just hasn't been a lot of difference between spd and fdp merkel coalitions.

[ApatheticAustrian]

i am not surprised about a strong cdu (result of lots of non-voters and afd-voters coming back)

i am also not surprised by a stronger fdp and decreasing spd numbers.

but.....the acceleration of the process is really surprising for me!

a few weeks ago i would have guessed, 30% spd and 35% cdu would be a modest model.....

weak afd, weak green and weak spd, on the other hand, is kind of shocking, combined with a 40% cdu.....and that after merkel single-handedly broke some literal campaign promises and started the refugee crisis of 2015.

amazing.

[ApatheticAustrian]

left party split and merkel's leftish policies.

[ApatheticAustrian]

This is typical Merkel.

She plays both the conservative wing and the liberals and boosts her own standing in the process.

[ApatheticAustrian]

I know it's very much a long stretch but would CDU/CSU even consider having the AfD join? (I know it's a pretty strange thing since the AfD is like the anti-Merkel

No, they wouldn't.

we are atm in for either black - yellow or black - red....i know, the spd kind of rejected this but they got no balls and hate state crises.