3 state elections in Germany in September

[freek]

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind. The PDS is the remnants of the communist party in the old DDR right? So why do the people of Brandenburg still vote for them? Wouldn't they want to rid themselves of thier communist past?

Not every East-German supported the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Also for some East Germans the unification with West Germany has in the end lead to disappointment, for example the unemployment level is still high in the East.

[freek]

No, that´s not what I meant. You said that all but two European users (you and Bono) are left-leaning. And what I tried to say is, that they are some Scandinavian members, who, despite the fact they´re using Democratic avatars, are conservative.

I'm not a very regular user, but I see myself as conservative too, in a Dutch way. .

I think that for Americans, almost every European user on this forum is left-leaning, while in European eyes almost every American user is right-leaning.

[freek]

How does each state typically vote?

Check http://www.parties-and-elections.de/germany3.html

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[freek]

True, I guess my point was that they are on a "positive" trend in Germany as well as many other countries like Netherlands

Oh? The racist parties have never been big here. I think the CD (Centre Democrats) was the largest extreme rightwing party we have ever had here, and they had 3 seats in parliament (2,5%) in 1994. Nowadays there is not such a party anymore.

The closest is "NieuwRechts" (NewRight), founded by a former LPF member, who was kicked out of the LPF for racist tendencies and connections with the Vlaams Blok. They took part in the European Parliament elections this year and scored 0,3%.

[freek]

True, I was talking about LPF. He might had some opinions that wasn't typical rightwing, but many of his followers voted for LPF because of the anti-emigration ideas and the "our culture is threated" retoric

Ok, but it is better that people voted LPF than for a real extreme rightwing party. Most LPF-voters voted VVD before 2002 btw.

But ontopic again: the state elections in Sachsen and Brandenburg are next Sunday. Are there any new polls available?

[freek]

Resurrecting a dead thread... :-)

One month on, has the form of the new coalition in Saxony been determined? I couldn't find any news on this topic in English. Is the distribution of ministries among parties determined? Will a coalition have any effect on the balance in the federal Upper House?

CDU and SPD are still negotiating. Today the Landtag was for the first time in session after the elections.  When a CDU/SPD-government is formed (which is likely), then the CDU/FDP coalition still has a small majority in the Bundesrat.