Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Election Time in Germany

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Election Time in Germany

    So, the Germans will go to the polls this upcoming Sunday. It's a pretty big deal in Europe, because the Germans have the money right now.

    Honest, nothing will probably change. I really want things to change, but Merkel and the CDU are still pretty popular within Germany. Since Germany is still economically strong in a continent full of problems, that's not likely to change, even after the election. I just wish that people would consider some of the proposals that other parties make. The economic stability of Germany isn't really due to the current government as much as it's due to the multitude of small and mid-sized niche companies that make up the majority of the economy (which will probably always do well, because they make things you can't exactly get made in China for cheaper and can sell them for any price they want).

    Anyway, thoughts?

    #2
    Re: Election Time in Germany

    Soooo this is today. I voted

    I was kind of off about saying that -nothing- will probably change. There's a huge likelihood that the FDP (financially liberal party) will not get enough votes to remain in the Bundestag, and even if they do, they might not have enough numbers to matter. Right now, they form a coalition with the CDU to run the country, so the CDU will have to find another party to form a coalition with. The options are SPD (their main rivals, center left), the Greens (environmental, center left), and die Linke (socialists, left). Maybe the Pirate Party will get some seats, but I doubt they're an option. Soooo that should be interesting. If they don't manage to form a coalition with any of those parties, those parties could also form a coalition with each other and nothing will get done here for a while.

    To explain the above, you get 2 votes in Germany. The first goes to a candidate in your district and the candidate with the most votes directly represents your district. The second vote goes to a party. The seats are divided based on the percentage each party gets, but a party has to get at least 5% of the vote to get allotted seats (just to avoid insanity, as there are a ton of parties in the country). Right now there are 5 parties in national parliament: The CDU (Angela Merkel is CDU), FDP, SPD, Greens, and die Linke.

    Oh, and the polls close in 20 minutes!

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Election Time in Germany

      How did things turn out? Having Australia post election, and you mentioning the similarities makes me curious.
      ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

      RIP

      I have never been across the way
      Seen the desert and the birds
      You cut your hair short
      Like a shush to an insult
      The world had been yelling
      Since the day you were born
      Revolting with anger
      While it smiled like it was cute
      That everything was shit.

      - J. Wylder

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Election Time in Germany

        Well, the CDU won by a large margin (around 40%) as predicted. However, majority governments almost never happen in Germany on a state or national level. The former coalition party, the FDP, failed to get its 5% to get into the Bundestag, so the CDU has to pick a new coalition partner. They haven't done so yet because there are a lot of problems involved. They could form another "Grand coalition" with the SPD, but both are somewhat reluctant to do so. The public supports this, but I do NOT. My reasoning is that the only other parties in the Bundestag at the moment are the Greens and Die Linke, which both have around 8% (both unfortunately suffered huge losses in this election). That means that the grand coalition would leave an opposition of less than 20%, which is terrible for democracy, in my opinion. The CDU and SPD also don't work that well together. However, it looks like this could happen. The CDU and SPD are starting a series of meetings meant to work out the terms of a Grand Coalition. It could take months, and may or may not pan out (if they can't reach a compromise, it won't happen and the CDU will have to find another coalition partner), but it's looking like this is where the government is headed.

        The Greens would make a reasonable coalition partner. The two parties are very different on many levels, but they play well together in some state coalitions. This would give the government a majority and a few Greens could hold some positions that are important to them, such as Environment Minister and Family Minister. For this reason alone, I'd like to see this happen. This option isn't out. The CDU and the Greens will also meet to talk about a possible coalition.

        The CDU will never consider forming a coalition with Die Linke (the Left), nor would Die Linke agree to one. They are not friends. Die Linke cooperates with the SPD and the Greens, but never the CDU.

        Technically the SPD, Greens, and Die Linke have a majority. Though they wouldn't have any ministerial positions, they could technically band together and block CDU legislation and pass their own. However, this would be pretty messy.

        Basically, we're in a deadlock until compromises are made and decisions are reached.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Election Time in Germany

          So much of that went waaay over my head. Some days I wish I knew more about politics, and some days I wish I knew less *sigh*

          Still, I hope it all works out. It doesn't seem to affect me at all my day to day life though. I'm not pleased with our current government, but so far I don't think they have done much of anything, and certainly none of it has affected me.... I dunno... Politics suck.
          ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

          RIP

          I have never been across the way
          Seen the desert and the birds
          You cut your hair short
          Like a shush to an insult
          The world had been yelling
          Since the day you were born
          Revolting with anger
          While it smiled like it was cute
          That everything was shit.

          - J. Wylder

          Comment


            #6

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Election Time in Germany

              Haha, a few things? Thanks though, I dan see how it's different to Australia's. gotta go now, if you're interested i can give a run down of what I understand of the Australian system.
              ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

              RIP

              I have never been across the way
              Seen the desert and the birds
              You cut your hair short
              Like a shush to an insult
              The world had been yelling
              Since the day you were born
              Revolting with anger
              While it smiled like it was cute
              That everything was shit.

              - J. Wylder

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Election Time in Germany

                That would be great! I read about the recent election, but I didn't have a lot of context at the time.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Election Time in Germany

                  As I understand it... And this is probably going to be all over the shop...

                  When we vote we get two pieces of paper. One that's for the lower house (house of representitives) and one for the upper house (the senate). The lower house has a small list of names that you number 1 to 6 (or so), and they are the local area ones, so I actually knew the dudes on that one.

                  The senate one has lots and lots of parties, it's the one that has the things like the greens, labour and liberal parties on it. You have two options on this one, either above the line, you just put a 1 (where just the parties are listed) or you can number every box below the line, which has the individiuals from each party listed. On my paper this was 1 - 73, in victoria, the ballot paper was over a metre long.

                  The party in the senate is the one who gets the government. All bills are passed first through the lower house, then into the senate.

                  Also there are state elections for state government, but I don't really know how that ties into the national bit.

                  Everyone votes above the line, because they are lazy and ignorant. I vote below. Everyone should have to vote below. I think more people are starting to though, cos there was a bit of controversy when a guy from the Fishing and Sporting Party got a seat in the Senate... But yeah, I dunno. Libs still bloody won.

                  info about the major parties is probably better gained by googling them.

                  This is cool though: http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/ I place between greens and labour, but closer to greens. Either way in the end I voted every single major popular party LAST. I put one good guy first (nick xenophon) then voted every other party in the order of least bullshit to most bullshit, and put the 3 lib candidates in 70, 71, 72 and 73 haha. So for example the animals party came before the voluntary euthanasia party, and they came before fishing, and they came before shooting, and the legalise hemp got in before shooting, and the sex party came in around the same place as the animals party... haha madness.
                  ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

                  RIP

                  I have never been across the way
                  Seen the desert and the birds
                  You cut your hair short
                  Like a shush to an insult
                  The world had been yelling
                  Since the day you were born
                  Revolting with anger
                  While it smiled like it was cute
                  That everything was shit.

                  - J. Wylder

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Election Time in Germany

                    Interesting...sounds like Australia's political system is complicated as well!

                    I took the vote compass quiz, just out of curiosity. It told me that I strongly favoured the Greens and then the Labour.

                    We had a similar quiz, http://www.bpb.de/politik/wahlen/wahl-o-mat/ . However, you have to speak German to understand it haha.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Election Time in Germany

                      Similar to me then! And damn deutsch!
                      ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

                      RIP

                      I have never been across the way
                      Seen the desert and the birds
                      You cut your hair short
                      Like a shush to an insult
                      The world had been yelling
                      Since the day you were born
                      Revolting with anger
                      While it smiled like it was cute
                      That everything was shit.

                      - J. Wylder

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Election Time in Germany

                        Best thing I saw during the election on the street. Had to take a picture of it LMAO
                        Click image for larger version

Name:	20130923_160324.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	94.5 KB
ID:	352025
                        That's what I call hardcore Advertisement hahaha >_>

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Election Time in Germany

                          Hahahaha that's awesome!

                          I found a pretty good Green Party poster in my district. It basically looked like a teenager doodled it in 1970.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Election Time in Germany

                            I saw and I was like *gets phone out of purse* *click* *picture taken*... I was laughing my bumz off!
                            I did not see that one. Sadly!! I always get a good laugh out of the s**t political advertisement tries to pull off...Emphasis on TRIES hahaha

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Election Time in Germany

                              Lol bums haha
                              ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

                              RIP

                              I have never been across the way
                              Seen the desert and the birds
                              You cut your hair short
                              Like a shush to an insult
                              The world had been yelling
                              Since the day you were born
                              Revolting with anger
                              While it smiled like it was cute
                              That everything was shit.

                              - J. Wylder

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X