🇩🇪 German elections (federal & EU level)

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President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Massen throws a hissyfit at the “naive and leftist” coalition policies,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-politics/outgoing-german-spy-chief-attacks-naive-left-reopens-coalition-row-idUSKCN1NA105

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If he runs for CDU chairman, how much support would he gather?

He wouldn't win, but he has the potential to come in third place.

It's more likely that Maaßen runs for AfD chairman. (Yes, I know he's still a CDU member.)

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It's more likely that Maaßen runs for AfD chairman. (Yes, I know he's still a CDU member.)

Mut gut feeling says he won't remain a CDU member much longer...

Maybe he will but become some form of Erika Steinbach.

Just an official supporter of the AfD, but not a member?

The AfD's U-Boat inside the CDU. The Black Sarrazin.

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A new shock poll from Emnid for the BamS:

CDU/CSU: 30%
SPD: 19%
Greens: 15%
FDP: 8%
Left: 10%
AfD: 13%
Others: 5%

http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/emnid.htm

What's shocking about it - the SPD recovery?

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Yeah, the German voters who turned out for the Euro elections have always been somewhat more pro-European than average. Surprised at the rather large difference for the SPD though.

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Yeah, the German voters who turned out for the Euro elections have always been somewhat more pro-European than average. Surprised at the rather large difference for the SPD though.

I could imagine that Barley is more popular than Nahles.

Making center-left voters vote SPD instead of the Greens? Probably. Doesn't really show up in the numbers, though.

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CDU leader sparks row with joke about gender-neutral bathrooms

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer criticised for ‘disrespectful’ comment at carnival event

She was sold as a “mini Merkel”, a centrist in the same liberal mould as her predecessor as leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union. But Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has worked hard to court the conservative wing of her party since taking the top job, leading to controversy over comments she made about gender-neutral bathrooms.

AKK correctly calculated that the move would be net vote gainer. Merkel silently approves. (That smirk, of course, is a product of your imagination.)

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Btw, the candidates' list of DIE PARTEI for the upcoming EP elections consts of the following people. With the exception of the two top spots - both of which are well-known comedians, one of them already a sitting MEP - most of the people were selected due to their surnames.

1. Martin Sonneborn
2. Nico Semsrott
3. Lisa Bombe ("bomb")
4. Bennet Krieg ("war")
5. Kevin Göbbels
6. Tobias Speer
7. Elisabeth S. Bormann
8. Dietrich F. Eichmann
9. Andreas Keitel
10. Fabian M. Heß
11. Frauke Heß-Tchokam ("artist name": Frauke Hess)
12. Dr. Jens Glatzer
13. Marco T. E. Manfredini
14. Samantha Edsen
15. Eggs Gildo
16. Tobias Dittrich
17. Charlotte Brock
18. Katharina V. Drängler
19. Jana Käding
20. Norman Jutrowska

Are those stage names or real names?
Anyway, it's good that Germany's forensic biologist Mark Benecke, who has been contesting many different citywide, statewide, countrywide and continentwide political offices and seats in this decade, is only number 25 on that list. He is one of Germany's most radical and militant vegan activists.

It's real, of course - and you see why the names get less interesting after #10.

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Another odd pattern I just noticed for city of Dresden:


Largest party in this Sunday's European election: AfD (2nd place: CDU, then Greens)

Largest party in this Sunday's city council election: Greens (2nd place: CDU, then AfD)

Voters prefer their cities to be run by sensible people. Europe, now...

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Interesting to see the transformation of the AfD into a party of the east.

And of random ed-up areas of the west, like Pirmasens or Gelsenkirchen. Any idea what's up with Germersheim? Because that one doesn't fit at all.

Were there local elections in Hesse 5 years ago?

No. Hesse was a stronghold of the Lucke era AfD, though. The decline was particularly strong - losses of 3% and more - in affluent parts of the Rhein-Main metro area, i.e. among people who love a hard FDP but won't vote for a soft NPD.

And what caused the demise of the party in southern Bavaria?

Much the same thing as in Hesse.

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Well, this was inevitable after Scholz, Dreyer and Schwesig published a letter declaring their "full support" for Nahles.

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I'd actually like to see a return of Schulz, because he's obviously NOT WOKE and everyone who is WOKE is going to vote Green anyway these days.

Mind you, this would have been part of Nahles' appeal as well if she hadn't done a 180 on GroKo - but leaving the coalition is only necessary, not sufficient.

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How is Schulz not woke?

Have you ever seen him on TV?

Yeah, the SPD is toast, they're going to end up just like the French PS.

In both countries, going forward the main leftwing party will be the Green Party.

Agree.

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Let's be real: the people who make fun of Schulz because of his accent are not likely to vote SPD (anymore).

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"Hast du einen Opa, schick ihn nach Europa."

Sending our grandmothers in addition to the grandfathers can be counted as progress of sorts.

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After the lengthy discussion about the possible introduction of a CO₂ tax, a Social Democratic MP, Rainer Spiering, has come up with an absurd idea to put their remaining voters off: a meat tax. Or more precisely: a value-added tax increase on meat products. Way to go, SPD. Way to go...

Makes perfect sense if they see the Greens as their main competitors.

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The party is dead, no matter who runs it. It has completely outlived its usefulness. I think the only person that could salvage parts of the SPD would be a social populist figure who sort of does an about-face on migration, arguing that open borders wreak havoc on the wages of the working class. But that's never gonna happen. Therefore the SPD has been relegated to being a copy of the Greens with less of a hipster appeal.

Even if it did happen - see Denmark - there is no need for two parties of that sort, and the Left has more people within the party who could credibly perform such a turn.

Social democracy is dead

Well...I guess they - we - have to realize that 1) social democracy doesn't work without a sense of community, and 2) most voters do not see the whole world as their community, and probably never will.

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Die Linke is already far better on these issues than the SPD, and ideologically pretty much the same at this point in office, why not them?

Had been expected, and would not have made the news. Oh, and the local PARTEI leader died just a week ago.

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Channeling the 1970s. What else are they going to do?