Votings Next Week: Who has the Best Chances?
As you might know from older entries there will be voltings next week and you might also be wondering who has the best chances to win. However, first of all I will introduce the most important parties to you.
Parties in Germany
All parties are ordered by the number of members.
CDU and CSU
CDU and CSU are pretty much the same, they always work together, but they are counted as single parties. CSU comes from Bavaria and CDU from the rest of Germany.
CDU and CSU are conservative parties. They are usually a bit more on the side of company owners refusing minimum wages. CSU is more conservative than CDU, because they often call for more surveillance cameras or higher trials instead of better policemen.
SPD
SPD is called the social-democratic party Germany. They have lost a lots of votes when they had no strict direction anymore, but since the TV duel polls are again better for them. The SPD campaigns for minimum wages and taxes on stock exchange.
Die Linke
Die Linke has formed in 2007 from two different parties in Eastern and Western Germany. They are a left-wing party and care about topics like minimum wages, war in foreign countries or financial and economic crisis.
FDP
The FDP is a liberal party in Germany. It mostly cares about taxes and civil rights. Yet, critics say that the civil rights movement within the FDP did not have much power and they often gave it up for coalition participation.
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (The Greens)
The Greens have been founded at times of protest against nuclear power plants. They therefore are against nuclear power and for renewable energies.
At the beginning the Greens were the rebels in the Parliament, but nowadays they have adopted. E.g. one of their members once said: "If you will excuse me, Mr. President, you are an asshole!"
Others
None of the other parties has a big chance to reach 5% of the votes. Yet, there is a new party called Piratenpartei (Pirate Party) which deals with more civil rights and a reformation of the copyright law. They are said to reach 2 or 3%.
A right-wing party - the NPD - has reached 1,6% at the last elections, but they not really match this blog, because they say: "Homeward journey instead of immigration!" This means they do not want foreign people in Germany.
Voting polls
According to voting polls, CDU / CSU will receive the most votes with 35-37%. SPD is estimated to get about 25%. FDP between 12% and 14%, Die Grünen about 11% and Die Linke 10-12%.
| Party | votes 2005 | votes 2009 (estimation) |
|---|---|---|
| CDU/CSU | 35.2% | 35 - 37% |
| SPD | 34.2% | 22.5 - 26% |
| FDP | 9.8% | 12 - 14% |
| Die Grünen | 8.1% | 10 - 12% |
| Die Linke | 8.7% * | 10 - 12% |
|
Others |
4.0% | 4 - 6% |
* (only PDS in Eastern Germany)
Coalition possibilities
Currently, it seems as if CDU/CSU and FDP would want to work together. Yet, as you can see from the table above this might not be possible. Then it could be possible that CDU and SPD stay together (as it has been the last four years).
A coalition between SPD and Die Linke is refused by the SPD candidate and SPD, Die Grünen and FDP is refused by FDP.
Moreover, there is another problem with these polls: About one third of the people do not know yet whom they will give their vote.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Comments
To be honest, I didn't know anything about the parties in Germany, till now (except the Pirate Party, but I learnt that from you, as well).
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with other people, including me.
Keep up the good work!
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