Upcoming parliamentary elections in Germany

[Oystein]

...I suggested, for a honorary success, this guy (too lazy to explain that now):

[qimg]https://i.imgur.com/cOV8rAs.jpg[/qimg]

Serdar Somuncu is a political comedian who insults every party equally - the kind of humor that tends to get stuck in your throat. I like him a lot!

Ny nephew in Berlin is a great fan and happens to live in Somuncu's voting district and of course was very happy to vote for him!

The party "Die Partei" is actually a satire of a party, the founder a satirist.

...Mutti Merkel ...

I was actually genuinly amused and laughed when I saw signs at Merkel's election party saying "Voll muttiviert!" (totally motimommyvated)

 

[Oystein]

...
The graphs on this page, near the bottom, say that a Jamaica coalition is not very popular with the voters of either party, while both SPD and CDU voters do favour another grand coalition.

I can never fully understand this hostility between Greens and FDP - they are both, at core values, liberal, democratic, parties. In fact, I would be a life-long FDP voter, if their personel would stick more closely to the philosophical core - and so my ersatz-vote more often goes Green

What do you mean with "open valves": neither the Greens nor the FDP have ever been shy of taking government responsibility, the FDP with both major parties and the Greens in coalition with the SPD under Schröder. The FDP, however, has had a much harder time in the last decade or so to distinguish itself from its preferred Union partner: in the previous elections, they dropped below 5% and didn't return in the Bundestag.

Perhaps "valves" is not a good picture.
I mean: When you are not in parliament, or not in government, you can keep a low profile on the difficult topics that, pragmatically, require compromise. Your true colors come through when you are forced to take, and act upon, an actual position.

And yes, the FDP payed dearly for showing their true (i.e. non-liberal but particular-politics) colors in their last coalition with Merkel. I hope they are smarter this time around.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Serdar Somuncu is a political comedian

And maybe not needless to say of Turkish background and the c with the sicle substituting the z in "Kanzler" (chancellor) is a Turkish language special character just there to tongue-in-cheek intimidate. Bottom right says he won third place in the Erdogan look-a-like contest of Oer-Erkenschwick (a proverbial province town) in 2007.

 

[ddt]

I can never fully understand this hostility between Greens and FDP - they are both, at core values, liberal, democratic, parties.

That's a very thin common ground. If you're not, Karlsruhe will outlaw you. OK, that's a bit of hyperbole, but everybody and their dog calls themselves "liberal" these days.

For one big difference, the economic philosophy of the FDP is unfettered laissez-faire capitalism, while the Greens have a (IMHO) healthy scepsis towards the free market.

In fact, I would be a life-long FDP voter, if their personel would stick more closely to the philosophical core - and so my ersatz-vote more often goes Green

You mean people like Otto Graf Lambsdorff?

Perhaps "valves" is not a good picture.
I mean: When you are not in parliament, or not in government, you can keep a low profile on the difficult topics that, pragmatically, require compromise. Your true colors come through when you are forced to take, and act upon, an actual position.

Isn't it the other way round? When you're in the opposition, you can stick to your guns while when you're in government, you have to make compromises, and then explain at the next elections that you actually had an influence and that you realized (important) points in your manifesto. ("Yeah, we promised to increase XYZ with 10%, and we only got 5%, but our coalition partner wanted no increase at all").

And yes, the FDP payed dearly for showing their true (i.e. non-liberal but particular-politics) colors in their last coalition with Merkel. I hope they are smarter this time around.

Ever since Genscher's switch from the SPD to the CDU in 1982, the FDP has all but shed its left-liberal wing and has become not much more than a party that gives the CDU a working majority, with little to naught to show for their own part in government.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Found this helpful infographic of the new parliament...

 

[Oystein]

Found this helpful infographic of the new parliament...

[qimg]https://i.imgur.com/j0ngD3e.jpg[/qimg]

Hehe I like!
While riding my bike earlier today between villages, fields and wind mills, I contemplated on the typical FDP polititian, or rather specifically the Lindner one man show, and what emerged was the pale, bald-faced late-teenager who got his first, slightly too wide business suit at age 17, his business permit for his 18th birthday, and who offers, yet not 19, his superior market skills as economic consultant to the established local companies. Lots of heads shaken, lots of giggles had.

Sent from mobile phone through Tapatalk

 

[ddt]

Found this helpful infographic of the new parliament...

[qimg]https://i.imgur.com/j0ngD3e.jpg[/qimg]

LOL.

The number of seats there, though, is an underestimate. Wiki says that, due to the new legislation that compensates Überhangmandate (overhang seats) with Ausgleichsmandate (leveling seats), there will be a record number of 111 extra seats in the current Bundestag. That's going to be the first order of business for the new parliament, because with further downsizing of the major parties, that problem is only going to get worse.

 

[KDLarsen]

Odd way for Frauke Petry to celebrate her party storming into the Bundestag: By declaring she won't be a member of said party's parliamentary group and will instead sit as an independent. Hardly surprising considering the type of party, granted, but still...

Then again, what a hardliner tradionalist "Mutti and vatti"-type party ever wanted with a cosmopolitan lesbian as their (co-)leader, I'll never know..

 

[Childlike Empress]

Odd way for Frauke Petry to celebrate her party storming into the Bundestag: By declaring she won't be a member of said party's parliamentary group and will instead sit as an independent. Hardly surprising considering the type of party, granted, but still...

Then again, what a hardliner tradionalist "Mutti and vatti"-type party ever wanted with a cosmopolitan lesbian as their (co-)leader, I'll never know..

The lesbian leader is Alice Weidel, not Frauke Petry. Petry has a whole bunch of children, including a just born one.

 

[ddt]

Odd way for Frauke Petry to celebrate her party storming into the Bundestag: By declaring she won't be a member of said party's parliamentary group and will instead sit as an independent. Hardly surprising considering the type of party, granted, but still...

It's a great start. I truly wish the AfD as much party unity as the Dutch Pim Fortuyn List.

Then again, what a hardliner tradionalist "Mutti and vatti"-type party ever wanted with a cosmopolitan lesbian as their (co-)leader, I'll never know..

The lesbian leader is Alice Weidel, not Frauke Petry. Petry has a whole bunch of children, including a just born one.

The utility for the party is obvious: those are the Uncle Toms, the useful idiots through which the party can claim they're not really a reactionary party. For the LGBTQ people who join such a party, it's because of Islamophobia and through a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" reasoning.

 

[KDLarsen]

Apologies for the mix-up. In any case, Petry is no longer co-leader of the party, she isn't even in the party. Any of my southern neighbours know if this is a record as far as time from being elected to parliament to leaving ones party?

 

[ddt]

Apologies for the mix-up. In any case, Petry is no longer co-leader of the party, she isn't even in the party. Any of my southern neighbours know if this is a record as far as time from being elected to parliament to leaving ones party?

In Germany or in the world? And do you count it as zero days or as minus 60? For she had already decided on this course two months ago.

 

[Darth Rotor]

I am not getting the juxtaposition of Merkel and McCain.

 

[Childlike Empress]

I am not getting the juxtaposition of Merkel and McCain.

It hints at the fact that the large German parties and politicians are, for historical reasons, still more or less closely connected to and to some degree guided by the US establishment, through several think tanks and transatlantic organizations. As Trump isn't establishment, I guess the author chose Insane McCain here as he has his bloody war-mongering fingers in any pot available.

It's true in the same way as the AfD are Hitler and the Linke are Marx, not in the way the Greens are well-sorted rubbish.

 

[dudalb]

In the US, lots of Gallows Humor about the rise of the AdP of the
"God, will we have to go Over There a Third time to take care of business" type.

 

[dudalb]

"Berlin Station" a Americsn Cable TV Series about the Berlin CIA station, is running ads for the new season, and apparently the Big Bad is a attractive Women leader of a Neo Nazi Movement threatening to take power in Germany.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Oystein did explain it, it's a play on the colours associated with the parties: black for Merkel's Christian Union, Green for the Greens and Yellow for the Liberals. Like the colours of the flag of Jamaica.

[...]

Interestingly enough, the clown the SPD found to run against her now claims that there's no way the "Grand coalition", that has reigned for the last four years and now shrunk to barely above the size they need, far from grand, will continue. The SPD wants to be opposition now. But after all, he's a clown, and maybe some of the losers speculate for #Neuwahl, as it hardly can get any worse for them. Worst turnout in their post-Third Reich history. But it's the SPD after all so they will fall over and continue the coalition, I predict.

The negotiations for a "Jamaica"-coalition have finally failed yesterday. Won a couple of bets that will bring me amounts of beer with that. Now it's time for the SPD to fall over to make me cash in some more fluids. Clown Schulz has already repeated he wants to be opposition. But the president says everybody should be willig to talk. And in two weeks or so there's the opportunity to kick Schulz out and send him back in the direction of Brussels (or at least three quarters of the way). I've heard Gabriel likes to be FM enough to stage a little coup.

 

[Eddie Dane]

How'd the AfD do if there were snap elections?

They looked pretty bad after the last elections, I think. With more acceptable figures like Petry getting out and old men with Nazi hangups and young women of unimpressive intellect coming to the front.

In Austria, the right has young and charismatic leadership, but I don't see it in Germany.

 

[Oystein]

The problem for the SPD, or any party, os that those who take on the responsibility will get blamed for whatever happens: I perhaps shoul look up numbers, but have a distinct impression that most coalition members in the recent past lost votes the next time around. I guess Lindner (FDO leader whi stepped out negotiations) is aware how badly his party fared last time they did a coalition with Merkel and was wary of a contract that includes few of his pet ideas (he forgets that the FDP got punished *because* they pushed through silly pet projects).

As for AfD in snap elections: their base don't vote so much FOR faces or positions as AGAINST the failing "old" parties. I fear they'd gain.