Can't tell the players without a scorecard!

Today is the day! All of Germany (with the exception of Dresden—see my earlier post, “Death of a Neo-Nazi”) is heading to the polls. The Wahlkampf is over and in a few hours we may know whether Gerhard Schröder and the SPD have pulled off an incredible come-from-behind-victory to stay in power, or whether (as predicted) the CDU/CSU will win and Angela Merkel will become Germany’s first ever woman Chancellor.

Expectations are for a very large voter turnout, which may help the chances of the SPD. Schröder’s masterful campaigning has helped his party narrow the seemingly insurmountable gap that all of the polls have shown between the SPD and CDU since the Chancellor called for a snap election after the disastrous SPD loss in the state election of North-Rhine Westphalia in June (see my earlier post).

However, this is the Federal Republic of Germany we’re talking about here, and things political are complicated and colorful. All of the polls indicate that, as is typical in Germany, whoever wins will have to govern along with a smaller, coalition partner. Political parties in Germany are color-coded! The CDU/CSU’s (black) preferred partner is the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP; yellow) so a “schwarz-gelb” coalition is what Merkel is hoping for. The SPD (red) prefers to govern with the Greens (well naturally, green) so a Schröder victory could mean a continuation of the current “rot-grün” coalition. Thanks to the defection of former SPD stalwart, Oscar LaFontaine, to the new Left Party (die Linke.PDS) there are now two “red” parties, so in theory one could see a “rot-rot-grün” government although both Schröder and die Linke leaders, Lafontaine and former PDS chief, Gregor Gysi say nein, niemals!

Or how about a grand coalition, “schwarz-rot” with the CDU and SPD working together? Also a big “keine Chance” from both Schröder and Merkel. Finally, there has even been chatter about a possible “Ampel Coalition”, a “traffic-light” government composed of the CDU, the SPD, an die Grüne, so “red-yellow-green”. Also unlikely say the analysts.

Not complex enough for you? In Germany, every eligible voter gets two votes! The Erststimme (first voice) is your vote for the Bundestag candidate of your local constituency and the Zweitstimme (second voice) is for the national list of candidates (that is to say the party you wish to see running the show). This summer, die Grüne plastered political posters up all over the country with the slogan “die Zweitstimme”, urging voters to use their second vote to increase the representation and hence political power of die Grüne/Bundnis 90 (the full designation of the Greens these days!).

Well you can’t tell the players without a scorecard, so here are some pictures of the candidates and other major players in today’s Bundestagswahl. You (assuming you are a German, 18 years of age or older and otherwise eligible) are now ready to get out there and wählt!