2012 Elections in Germany

[politicus]

Maybe the Pirate Party can try positioning itself as the anti-EU party and get a new lease on life!

I can't see a bunch of youthful, left leaning protest votes going all Eurosceptic. The Pirate's voters don't strike me as the type who would vote for a UKIP.

They could be. In Scandinavia there is a strong left wing anti-European tradition and Northern Germany is not that culturally different. The EU is committed to fiscally conservatie goals with anti-inflation policies and fiscal austerity deemed more important than fighting unemployment. It is also viewed by many left wingers to be a bureaucratic monster that is pro-big business adnd the establishment. So you dont have to be a conservative to be a euro-sceptic.

[politicus]

^That renders every UK government since 1970 undemocratic.

Could Die Linke voters strategically vote for Greens to get a left-wing coalition?

Not if they want to keep their party.

Which is pretty much how we view it on the Continent.

[politicus]

Well, the left side (SPD, Greens, Linke) still leads the right side (CDU, FDP) pretty clearly.
Only the paria status of Die Linke in German politics and the existence of the "youth populist"/pseudo-libertarian Pirates blurs the picture.
 

[politicus]

Well, the left side (SPD, Greens, Linke) still leads the right side (CDU, FDP) pretty clearly.
Only the paria status of Die Linke in German politics and the existence of the "youth populist"/pseudo-libertarian Pirates blurs the picture.

I would be shocked if the Pirates made it into the Bundestag at this point.

Me too, but they are still blurring the polls