German Elections & Politics

[Middle-aged Europe]

The relevant question is how much of a no-name she is in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. People from outside her district can't vote for her and hence don't need to know her.

Touché! But how many voters know their congressmen? Many just checked the field with Ströbele's name which can be proved by a look at the second vote.

That's because in that district Greens from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg are generally more popular than Greens from outside of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Because the Greens in F-K are significantly more left-wing than the national (or even state) Greens. Hence the divide between the first vote and the second vote in Bundestag elections. With the first vote you voted for a Green candidate from F-K, with the second vote you voted for Green candidates from outside of F-K.

I wouldn't expect Canan Bayram to win 40% of the vote in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Then again, you don't need to win 40% of the vote to get directly elected there. In 2002, Ströbele only won with 31.6%.

Here are the first vote results from the 2016 state election in Ströbele's Bundestag district. The Greens won five direct seats, the SPD two, and the Left one.


Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 1
Katrin Schmidberger (Greens) 44.1%
Björn Eggert (SPD) 19.7%
Gabriele Gottwald (Left) 16.4%

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 2
Marianne Burkert-Eulitz (Greens) 33.4%
Pascal Meiser (Left) 22.4% - Meiser is currently running against Canan Bayram for the Bundestag seat
Sven Heinemann (SPD) 17.7%

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 3
Turgut Altug (Greens) 31.3%
Sevim Aydin (SPD) 22.5%
Jiyan Durgun (Left) 16.6%

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 4
Steffen Zillich (Left) 28.2%
Susanne Kitschun (SPD) 20.7%
Clara Hermann (Greens) 20.5%

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 5
Canan Bayram (Greens) 34.0%
Peggy Hochstätter (SPD) 16.1%
Damiano Valgolio (Left) 13.4%

Pankow 7 (only partially within Ströbele's district)
Clara West (SPD) 25.0%
Jasmin Giama-Gerdes (Left) 22.6%
Daniele Billig (Greens) 19.5%

Pankow 8 (only partially within Ströbele's district)
Stefan Gelbhaar (Greens) 29.8%
Severin Höhmann (SPD) 25.6%
Matthias Zarbock (Left) 20.0%

Pankow 9 (only partially within Ströbele's district)
Tino Schopf (SPD) 24.6%
Michail Nelken (Left) 23.6%
Stefanie Remlinger (Greens) 18.8%


I left CDU, FDP, and AfD candidates out here, because none of them finished better than 4th place.

[Tender Branson]

Here's a map that shows how much debt per capita German states had on Dec. 31, 2016:



Saxony had the lowest debt per capita (453€), followed by Bavaria (1.514€) and Baden-Württemberg (4.880€).

The highest debt per capita was in Bremen (31.756€), Hamburg (17.415€) and Berlin (16.486€)

https://www.destatis.de/DE/PresseService/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2017/08/PD17_262_713.html

States with low debt generally vote strongly CDU/CSU, states with high debt have a stronger SPD-share.

[Tender Branson]

As a comparison, the debt per capita for Austrian states on December 31, 2016:

   197€ - Tyrol
   492€ - Vorarlberg
1.288€ - Upper Austria
3.533€ - Salzburg
3.571€ - Styria
3.616€ - Burgenland
3.740€ - Vienna
4.923€ - Lower Austria
7.445€ - Carinthia

http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/wirtschaft/oeffentliche_finanzen_und_steuern/maastricht-indikatoren/oeffentlicher_schuldenstand/019487.html

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I get that the Stadtstaaten are a bit financially unstable, and the Saar and NRW are postindustrial, but what's up with Schleswig-Holstein?

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I get that the Stadtstaaten are a bit financially unstable, and the Saar and NRW are postindustrial, but what's up with Schleswig-Holstein?

A state whose only economic branches are fish, shrimps and sheep's wool and whose only export hit is Holstein Friesian cattle can't survive on his own.

[Bumaye]

I get that the Stadtstaaten are a bit financially unstable, and the Saar and NRW are postindustrial, but what's up with Schleswig-Holstein?

 
 
What do you expect? Their two biggest companies are the Oil Refinery Heide and the Shipping Company Oldendorff Carriers. The city of Stuttgart alone has Mercedes, Porsche and Bosch.   
 
And it's not just the global players. Of the top 1.000 family businesses in Germany at least per capita Schleswig-Holstein is dead last in West Germany.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I get that the Stadtstaaten are a bit financially unstable, and the Saar and NRW are postindustrial, but what's up with Schleswig-Holstein?

 
 
What do you expect? Their two biggest companies are the Oil Refinery Heide and the Shipping Company Oldendorff Carriers. The city of Stuttgart alone has Mercedes, Porsche and Bosch.   

I just discovered that Germany's only oil well (offshore platform "Mittelplate") belongs to Schleswig-Holstein. Thus they are the Iraq of Germany? And still dead broke?

[Beezer]

Green MP in Lower Saxony will apparently defect to the CDU, meaning the red-green coalition has lost its majority.

[Bumaye]

Green MP in Lower Saxony will apparently defect to the CDU, meaning the red-green coalition has lost its majority.

 
  
And she left because she wasn't put on the state parties list for the next state election in January. What a self-absorbed bit**.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Somebody really burned the bridge, huh....

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

It's time that all minister presidents have to be elected directly!

[RedPrometheus]

It's time that all minister presidents have to be elected directly!

This shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the German political system.

[RedPrometheus]

The SPD will go for early elections either with the federal elections in September or in October.

[Tender Branson]

The SPD will go for early elections either with the federal elections in September or in October.

Is that even possible at this point ?

Don't know about the German election law, but here the election calendar starts 3 months before an election ... so the earliest date would be early November.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

It's time that all minister presidents have to be elected directly!

This shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the German political system.

No, that shows a sophisticated understanding of the German political system and its inherent anti-democratic disadvantages.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

The SPD will go for early elections either with the federal elections in September or in October.

Is that even possible at this point ?

Don't know about the German election law, but here the election calendar starts 3 months before an election ... so the earliest date would be early November.

Here is a detailed FAQ site about snap elections in Lower Saxony. If the parliament is dissolved, the sovereign has to elect a new one within two months.

[Middle-aged Europe]

And she left because she wasn't put on the state parties list for the next state election in January. What a self-absorbed bit**.

The completely weird thing about Elke Twesten is is that by looking at her Facebook profile you get almost the impression that she must have decided to switch parties and blow up the government last night while she was drunk or something.

In her last Facebook post before switching parties from July 20 she praised a (quote) "Red-Green initiative" that created an independent information center for asylums seekers, calling it "a great signal!". Facebook commentators below that post are now busy pointing that her new party, the CDU, opposed created the center in question. In her penultimate post prior to her party switch, she celebrated the legalization of same-sex marriage in Germany. In the two posts before that she shared promotional videos from her own party. On March 17 she criticized the CDU for not being progressive enough with regards to instituting a quota for female candidates in their party.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

And she left because she wasn't put on the state parties list for the next state election in January. What a self-absorbed bit**.

The completely weird thing about Elke Twesten is is that by looking at her Facebook profile you get almost the impression that she must have decided to switch parties and blow up the government last night while she was drunk or something.

In her last Facebook post before switching parties from July 20 she praised a (quote) "Red-Green initiative" that created an independent information center for asylums seekers, calling it "a great signal!". Facebook commentators below that post are now busy pointing that her new party, the CDU, opposed created the center in question. In her penultimate post prior to her party switch, she celebrated the legalization of same-sex marriage in Germany. In the two posts before that she shared promotional videos from her own party. On March 17 she criticized the CDU for not being progressive enough with regards to instituting a quota for female candidates in their party.

She reminds me of the Green politician Marianne Tritz (also from Lower Saxony), who became a lobbyist for the tobacco industry back in 2008. Green politicians seems to be quite flexible...

[Middle-aged Europe]

She reminds me of the Green politician Marianne Tritz (also from Lower Saxony), who became a lobbyist for the tobacco industry back in 2008. Green pPoliticians seems to be quite flexible...

[RedPrometheus]

Most likely election dates are apparently the 22nd or the 29th of October or the 5th of November.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Most likely election dates are apparently the 22nd or the 29th of October or the 5th of November.

No! I'm very sure the Lower Saxony snap elections will be held on Federal Election Day.

[TheSaint250]

http://www.politico.eu/article/christian-lindner-germany-should-accept-crimean-annexation-as-permanent-provisional-solution/

Christian Lindner (FDP) defended his position that Crimea at this time should be recognized as part of Russia due to Russia taking over the region in 2014.

Will this affect him negatively in any way?

[Tender Branson]

http://www.politico.eu/article/christian-lindner-germany-should-accept-crimean-annexation-as-permanent-provisional-solution/

Christian Lindner (FDP) defended his position that Crimea at this time should be recognized as part of Russia due to Russia taking over the region in 2014.

Will this affect him negatively in any way?

It's not a popular position to take for a liberal.

More for far-right wingers ...

[TheSaint250]

http://www.politico.eu/article/christian-lindner-germany-should-accept-crimean-annexation-as-permanent-provisional-solution/

Christian Lindner (FDP) defended his position that Crimea at this time should be recognized as part of Russia due to Russia taking over the region in 2014.

Will this affect him negatively in any way?

It's not a popular position to take for a liberal.

More for far-right wingers ...

That's what I was kind of thinking. I understand his thinking as being: Russia controls the peninsula, and even if it was taken illegally, it's still Russian property as of now.

If I were him I would have stayed away from the issue. It might be somewhat able to be debated better in the US per se but much less so in a European powerhouse in the EU.

I do wonder if the CDU will attack him harshly for this. After all, like he said, the race for Chancellor is pretty much done, so I'm sure the CDU would try to avoid weakening their coalition partner more than needed

[Middle-aged Europe]

I do wonder if the CDU will attack him harshly for this. After all, like he said, the race for Chancellor is pretty much done, so I'm sure the CDU would try to avoid weakening their coalition partner more than needed

According to this article, politicans from the SPD and the Greens have criticized Lindner for his statement regarding the status of Crimea.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/christian-lindner-kritik-an-fdp-chef-lindner-fuer-russland-aeusserungen-1.3618110

I suppose the FDP chairman wouldn't receive criticism from the AfD and the Left Party for saying something like this. Question is, will the CDU start to tun in?