2013 Elections in Germany

[Viewfromthenorth]

Congratulations to him on pissing off all of one of the SPD's two core regions...in a single sentence. Has he managed to annoy anyone in the Ruhr yet?

[Viewfromthenorth]

("Selbstbediener" is somewhat hard to translate correctly... the best I can do is "Chronicly Greedy/Corrupt Union").

As a Norwegian, I'm guessing the word Selbstdiener would mean someone who only serves themselves, or similar.

[Viewfromthenorth]

No change there, then. I suppose what is practically a guaranteed re-election for Merkel is not all that exciting.

[Viewfromthenorth]

http://www2.fr-online.de/bundestags-wahlhelfer/index.php

Here's a federal test; not sure I like it but fwiw...

Greens 66%
Left 55%
SPD 38%
FDP 24%
CDU/CSU 3%

SPD 38%
FDP 31%
Grüne 24%
CDU/CSU 21%
Linke 17%

...well, that was surprising.

[Viewfromthenorth]

Lol, just saw this pointed out: If you're in the precinct by 6pm, you can still cast your vote.

There's nothing in the law text banning you from going in, checking the 6pm prognosis via smartphone, and only then casting your vote. If you're unsure about your preferred party making it over 5%.

Yep. It's the case in most democracies that "closing time" simply means "time at which you can't get in line anymore". I've wondered about that sometimes.