One year ago, the we in the US were in the middle of one of the most exciting presidential campaigns in a generation. This year the election in Germany is anything but exciting. It appears that Angela Merkel and her party (CDU) will coast to an easy victory, but not because of any enthusiasm on the part of German voters. Rather, as the New York Times points out, the prevailing mood is lethargy and apathy:
that 84 percent of the more than 1,000 people they surveyed recently
found the election boring. Of those, 38 percent said the campaign was
“absolutely not interesting and exciting,” versus 46 percent who found
it somewhat uninteresting and unexciting. Only 1 percent found it “very
interesting and exciting.”
Analysts point to a variety of factors dulling voter interest. Surveys
show that most people are convinced that Mrs. Merkel is going to win
re-election on Sept. 27. Many others complain that after nearly four
years of governing in a coalition together, it is hard to tell the
Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats apart, not to mention
harder for them to attack each other when they have supported the same
programs.
This certainty on the part of the voters of a CDU victory is not based on any new ideas or even a clear direction on the part of Angela Merkel and her party. On the contrary, the party appears to be "headed into a vacuum':
fünfziger Jahren stand die europäische Christdemokratie in den Ländern,
in denen es sie gab, im Durchschnitt bei 50 Prozent. In den letzten
Jahren bewegte sie sich vielerorts auf die 20 Prozent zu und zurück.
Außerhalb Deutschlands begann der Schrumpfungsprozess der katholischen
und interkonfessionellen C-Parteien schon in den achtziger Jahren,
teilweise früher. Wahrscheinlich begannen die Diskussionen über eine
Erneuerung christlicher Politik oder der Mitte-Rechts-Parteien dort
früher und waren tiefergehend als hierzulande, weil weder Helmut Kohl
noch Angela Merkel solchen Debatten schätzen.(The decline of the Christian Democrats is a europe-wide phenomenon. In the early 1950s the Christian Democrats averaged more than 50% of the voters in those countries where they were established. In recent years they have garnered around 20%. Outside of Germany, the shrinking of the Catholic and inter-faith C-parties began already in the 1980s or earlier. No doubt the discussions concerning a renewal of Christian politics or the center-right parties also began much earlier there and were more compehensive than in Germany, because niether Helmut Kohl nor Angela Merkel are especially fond of debate.)
To be sure, we are still in the Sommerloch – the traditional August vacation period when nothing much gets done, and maybe we will see more robust campaigning in summer. But the mood of the voters will no doubt not be so much Yes We Can! as Yes Weekend.
0 comment
There is no interesting “Wahlkampf”, because:
1. The result of the election is quiet sure, smells like grand coalition again
2. The partyleaders are, well, neither interesting nor enthusiastic about their campaings
3. The campaigns themselves are shit, sorry to say. Best what can be said about them is, that they are a little 80´s
4. The parties are lame, old, disliked and most of the germans think of them beeing corrupt
And that are just a few reasons…
See also, in words much better than mine:
http://www.sprengsatz.de/?p=1837