A close struggle for the arrival of the German elections in the post-Merkel era | WGN radio 720

Berlin (AP) – The German voters have elected a new parliament in an election to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel after she had steered the largest economy in Europe for 16 years.

Opinion polls indicate very close competition between Merkel’s center-right coalition bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party, in which Governor Armin Laschet is running for prime ministerial office.

According to a recent poll, the Social Democratic Party is slightly ahead. The environmentalist Green has made her first appearance as Prime Minister together with the candidate Annalena Baerbock, and surveys show that she is a few points behind in third place. The Social Democratic Party was bolstered by Scholz’s relative popularity after a long slump in the polls. Bearbock suffered from discontent early on, and Rachette, Governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, found it difficult to motivate the traditional foundations of his party.

About 60.4 million people in 83 million countries are eligible to elect a new parliament or chamber to elect the next head of government.

It is not to be expected that the party will get a full majority. Polls all show support of less than 30%.

Such a result could mean that many coalition governments are arithmetically possible and lead to weeks or months of struggles over the formation of a new government. Until then, Merkel will continue to work on a caretaker basis.

Merkel was praised for maneuvering Germany through several major crises. The new Prime Minister will have to show a tendency for Germany to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, which has survived relatively well, thanks to a large-scale rescue program with new debts.

Rachette argues that there shouldn’t be a tax hike if Germany breaks out of the pandemic. Scholz and Baerbock support the tax increase for the richest Germans and also support the increase in the minimum wage.

Scholz campaigned on Friday for the government’s success in maintaining employment during the pandemic and “successfully avoiding the major economic and social crises that would otherwise have hit us”. Explained.

“If we act right in terms of economic policy, we can achieve new growth,” said Rachette on Saturday in his hometown of Aachen. “If we make a mistake now, ideological experiments will waste everything we have built in 16 years.”

Chancellor Merkel praised Rachette with only a few appearances in the election campaign as “taking bridges and people”.

The major German parties differ considerably in their proposals for combating climate change. Rachette’s Union Block is looking forward to technical solutions and market-oriented approaches, but the Greens want to raise carbon prices and end coal use earlier than planned. Scholz emphasizes the need for employment protection when Germany converts to more environmentally friendly energies.

The Greens are in favor of a stricter stance on China and Russia, but foreign policy plays less of a role in the election campaign.

Rachette and other union leaders warned that Schortz and the Greens would form a coalition with NATO and the opposition left, who speak out against Germany’s expansion abroad, as they struggle with polls. Given foreign policy and other differences between the parties, it is questionable whether such a partnership is feasible, but its line of scrimmage can help build a conservative foundation.

Scholz said he wanted a two-party system with the Greens, which is very optimistic. Without that majority, his first choice would likely be an alliance between the Greens and the Liberal Democratic Party of Pro Business.

Coalition with these two parties is also the most likely route to Rachette’s power. The Greens support the alliance with the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party the alliance with the Union.

The result can also make it possible to repeat the traditional grand coalition of the coalition and the SPD under Scholz or Rachette.

The right-wing extremist party Alternative für Deutschland, which voted just below the 12.6% that won parliament in 2017, will no longer appear in the new government. All other parties say they don’t use it.

The Bundestag has at least 598 seats, but can be quite large due to the complex voting system in Germany. The outgoing parliament has a record 709 seats and it is widely expected that the new parliament will be even bigger.

The number of people voting by post is expected to be higher than the 28.6% who voted four years ago. Also on Sunday, voters in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in northeast Germany (now both social democratic federal states) will vote for a new legislature.

___

Follow Associated Press coverage of the federal election at https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election