German federal election, 1999
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  German federal election, 1999
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Poll
Question: Go!
#1
United Left
 
#2
Alliance '90/The Greens
 
#3
Social Democratic Party of Germany
 
#4
Free Democratic Party
 
#5
Liberal Alliance of Germans
 
#6
Christian Democratic Union
 
#7
Christian Social Union
 
#8
German Republican Union
 
#9
National Democratic Party of Germany
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 46

Author Topic: German federal election, 1999  (Read 2338 times)
Peter the Lefty
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« on: January 20, 2014, 01:40:40 AM »
« edited: January 31, 2014, 07:35:13 PM by Peter the Lefty »

      Joschka Fischer's government was re-elected with a surprisingly narrow margin.  Election night was marked by shock at the sudden and unexpected surge of the NPD in the East.  Throughout much of the night, there was a fear that the VL would crash out of parliament, leaving a right-wing majority (but one including the NPD, which of course would not be allowed into a coalition government).  Such a scenario would doubtlessly prove unworkable.  Yet such fears were (mostly) put to rest once the VL, which was still strongest in the East, won a third constituency seat, thereby allowing it to win all of the seats it would have without any 5% threshold as an odd quirk of the Federal Republic's electoral system. At the end of the night, it appeared that there would still be a left-wing majority, but the NPD would now be in parliament, leading to mass panic throughout Europe over the far-right resurgence in Germany.  
      The Greens won a strong first-place victory once again.  The decision to emphasize Fischer's personality certainly appeared to have paid off.  The once-renegade party snatched virtually all of the remaining PDS vote as well as many from the VL.  Some socially liberal SPD voters upset at Scharping's socially conservative turn also switched to the Greens.  Thanks to this, the Greens added about five percentage points to their 1991 result.
      The LBD only made the most minor of gains.  Those which it did make appear to have come from the CDU, which suffered something of a meltdown.  Some CDU voters, it seemed, were unhappy with Blüm's "social" turn, and therefore switched to Kinkel's LBD.  Yet the LBD also lost an almost equal amount of voters to the FDP.  
      The FDP made a few minor gains from the LBD, but did not break ground to any smashing degree.  The CSU, on the other hand, lost a few votes, but claimed to have triumphed due to now being the largest Christian party thanks to the CDU's losses.  Most of the CSU's losses, on the other hand, were to the NPD.  
      The CDU was the biggest loser of the election.  Its attempt to go after "Christian social" votes with Norbert Blüm was a bad idea when the SPD had taken a socially conservative turn itself.  It lost a significant share of votes to the LBD as well as to the NPD in the East.  Blüm now foreswore future runs for the Chancellory.  
      The SPD also suffered losses, in its case to the Greens.  Going for the "working-class socon" vote may have won it a few CDU votes, but also alienated many urbane voters who had previously voted for the party, resulting in minor losses.  Scharping resigned the SPD's chairmanship while still appearing to be set to retain the Foreign Affairs portfolio.
      The most shocking result of all was that of the NPD.  Winning votes from the CSU and CDU in the East, it appeared that anti-immigrant attitudes were rising in spite of much lower unemployment and better living conditions.  Across much of Europe (particularly in the East), fears rose that national socialism might rise yet again in Germany.  Germany also witnessed such fears, and anti-East German attitudes rose in the West due to the perception that Easterners had pushed the NPD into parliament.  
      The VL also surprised many by making it into parliament, but the surprise was greeted with much more enthusiasm.  Many VL voters had now gone to the Greens , thereby threatening to leave the VL without enough votes to make it into the next Bundestag.  Should it have failed to win enough, Germany would have found itself in an unworkable parliamentary scenario.  The right (including the NPD) would have had a majority, but as the NPD would not be considered a potential coalition partner, the only solutions would have been a Green-FDP-CDU-SPD coalition, an LBD-CSU-SPD-CDU coalition, an LBD-FDP-CSU-CDU coalition, a Green-LBD-FDP coalition–you get the idea. The VL took advantage of its regional strength to win three constituency seats, however, thereby winning it its fair share of PR seats.  The PDS vote fell to virtually zero.

      Fischer managed to form another Green-FDP-SPD minority government with VL support.  He pressed onward with the creation of more cooperatives to fight unemployment, creating Green jobs in the process.  Innovative ecologically-friendly homes were constructed in large numbers, and schools also saw great improvements.  The long-standing practice of dividing pupils into "good" and "bad" categories based on test results and sending them into high schools accordingly was soon banned.  
      With innovate and comprehensive social welfare systems now in place, and with unemployment at a low 4% (and dropping), Fischer boldly re-opened the can of worms of social issues.  The SPD had removed Scharping as Chairman, and replaced him with the the former Hamburg Mayor and Building Minister Hans-Ulrich Klose. With Scharping powerless to stop it, the government now gave full adoption rights to same-sex couples, provoking outcry from conservative sections of the electorate.  He also liberalized citizenship laws.  
      The cooperatives continued to reduce unemployment until it was at 2% in 1999.  The jobs were well-paying, leading to boosts in consumption.  In other fields, workers also formed cooperatives independent of government guidance thanks to the success of the self-management model.  Yet the government eventually hit a very rough spot.  With NATO set to intervene in the Kosovo War, Fischer had to make the very difficult decision as to whether Germany should participate.  Personally, he supported intervention, as did the majority of his party, the SPD, and the FDP.  Yet there was still a significant Fundi faction among the Greens in spite of the fact that many of them had left to form the VL years prior.  The VL itself was adamantly opposed to it, and soon pulled the plug on the government once it became clear that Fischer was seeking to have Germany participate.  Elections were called a few months ahead of schedule.
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TNF
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« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2014, 01:48:31 AM »

VL
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Peter the Lefty
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« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2014, 02:03:34 AM »

      Alliance '90/The Greens are running Fischer for what appears to be his last term in office.  Fischer has even hinted that he may step down halfway through this term.  The party's platform includes continued support for worker cooperatives in green sectors in order to reduce unemployment, more carbon regulations, animal rights' protections, same-sex marriage, and continued high expenditure on welfare and public services.  Fischer is at odds with a great deal of his party over the issue of military intervention in the Balkans, which he supports.  A great number of his party's MP's have defected to the VL, creating a vast headache for him.
      The Liberal Alliance of Germans (LSM) has nominated Hesse Minister-President Wolfgang Gerhardt for the Chancellory.  A former Minister in the Lamsdorff governments, Gerhardt is not considered the most charismatic of politicians, but certainly among the more experienced.  Gerhardt is proposing an end to state support for worker cooperatives, the deregulation of the financial and white-collar industries, and tax cuts for high-income earners and corporate entities.  He has, however, had a role in "Greening" the LSM.  He is promising to keep certain environmental regulations in check, but believes that the free market is better suited to protect the environment than the government.  On social issues, Gerhardt is promising to rescind the legalization of adoption by same-sex couples who are in civil unions, but has not made a major issue of it. He also supports Fischer's liberalization of immigration laws.  In addition, he is calling for aerial intervention in Kosovo, but is ruling out the use of ground troops.
      The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is still lead by Günter Verheugen for what appears to be his last campaign.  The party is running on tax cuts for small businesses (to be made up for by an increase in taxes on larger corporations) the maintenance of the new legal status quo in terms of gay rights, continued increases in spending on public services (most notably education), and continued environmental protection programs.  The party also supports the new liberalizations of immigration laws, as well as aerial (and strictly aerial) intervention in Kosovo.  
      The Christian Social Union (CSU) has seen much recent turmoil.  It began in 1997 at a party conference wherein Saxony Premier Kurt Biedenkopf was elected party chairman, and pro-European (well, sort of) forces took over control of the party.  Biedenkopf does not in principle oppose European integration, but does take issue with exactly how much of Europe is being integrated.  Known as "King Kurt" for his authoritarian style of governance in Saxony, Biedenkopf is blasting Fischer for his "communist" economic policies and for his socially progressive legislation, calling it "degenerate" and a "threat to the foundations of our society."  He also opposes the government's immigration liberalization and spending boosts.  On the Euro, he cautiously supports the single currency, but wants to keep it limited only to a small bloc of European countries.  He also supports military intervention in Kosovo, but opposes the use of ground troops.  
      The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has made a bold move in nominating its new chairwoman, Angela Merkel, as its leading candidate in this election.  A Protestant woman from the East, she is the opposite of the general stereotype of CDU politicians (Catholic barons from the South).  Like the LBD, Merkel is also against the socially progressive legislation passed under Fischer, but her campaign isn't focused extensively on that issue.  Instead, she is campaigning on fiscal issues, calling for sharp cuts in expenditure, labor market reforms, and tax cuts, though her economic position is still somewhat to the left of that of the LBD (though some on the left say that it is only in rhetoric that any difference between her and Gerhardt exists on economics).  The most pronounced difference is that she opposes the new liberalization of immigration laws.  She also supports European integration and the single currency.  In addition, Merkel is supporting a military intervention in Kosovo should it be guaranteed not to include ground troops.
      The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is running its new Chairman, Labor Minister Hans-Ulrich Klose, as its lead candidate in the election.  Klose has dropped Scharping's social conservatism from 1995 and is instead running on a platform of maintained support for green energy and worker cooperatives, new job center programs, and infrastructure projects which may cause slight friction with the Greens.  The party supports the single-currency and European integration, as well as a strictly aerial intervention in the Balkans.  Klose is considered a compromise candidate between the leftist Heidemarie Weiczorek-Zeul and the rightist deputy Minister-President of Lower Saxony, Gerhard Schröder.  
      The German Republican Union (DRU) is a new party which recently split from the CSU in response to the takeover of the latter party by pro-European forces.  Lead by Peter Gauweiler, the DRU is running a staunchly anti-single currency campaign.  Gauweiler is also opposing the intervention in the Balkans, at times appearing to question whether genocide is actually occurring in Kosovo and other former Yugoslav areas.  On economic and social policy, the party is more or less in line with the CSU.
      The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) is a Neo-Nazi party lead by Udo Voigt.  It shocked the country and the world by making it into the Bundestag in the last election.  It is believed to be responsible for many recent far-right attacks on immigrants in the former East.  Aside from being, well, Nazis, the party emphatically supports intervention in the Balkans and has used racist anti-Serb rhetoric reminiscent of those used by the Nazis when they were in power.  It is the only party calling for the use of ground troops.  
      The United Left (VL) is attempting a renaissance by emphasizing its categorical opposition to any military intervention in the Balkans.  It is also emphatically supporting further socialization of the economy, greater environmental protections, and safeguards in favor of women's rights and LGBT rights.  Same-sex marriage is also in the party's platform.  The campaign of the party is being spearheaded by Ulla Jelpke and Bernd Schreier.
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Deus Naturae
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« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2014, 02:18:56 AM »

DRU
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Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends
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« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2014, 03:03:50 AM »

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Cassius
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« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2014, 03:19:10 AM »

CSU. The most important thing now is to elect a united right-wing government. Eurosecptisicm can wait until the s*** really starts to hit the fan, hopefully splintering the left too.
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H. Ross Peron
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« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2014, 03:27:28 AM »

SPD once more
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Flake
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« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2014, 03:55:20 AM »

I think I'm comfortable with voting for the greens once again
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Supersonic
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« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2014, 06:36:40 AM »

Shifting to CDU from CSU, the latter of which seem to have gone off the deep end.

Sometimes I do wonder what the point of the FDP is, they seem to have a very minor role in government.
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RogueBeaver
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« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2014, 01:58:39 PM »

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freefair
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« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2014, 04:46:35 PM »
« Edited: January 20, 2014, 04:48:31 PM by freefair »

Suggestion- allow the NDP to evolve into a left-wing Populist/Socially Conservative party? have the leadership renounce racism, fascism and become democrats? have them take some of the IRL PDS/Left vote. Allow them to live in the tradition of the GVP from early in the series, or at least create a new party that does? Also, could you include the Ecological Democrats here just to spice things up?
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2014, 05:02:58 PM »

The Greens have been doing a great job in power, but I'm switching to the FDP because I don't want to see them just fade away as they appear to be in danger of doing.  Keep things interesting, y'know.

(Also I like the focus on open immigration laws.)
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2014, 05:07:16 PM »

This is so Atlas Forum 2013 that it's hilarious.
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Cassius
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« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2014, 05:09:11 PM »

How so?
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Vosem
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« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2014, 05:31:01 PM »

Shifted from the LBD to the FDP over gay rights, but assuming the LBD manages to stay as the biggest right-wing party, will probably return once they get over that.
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