Berlin, Sept. 24 (BNA): Contenders to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to rally voters on Friday as the election campaign drew to a close, touting their credentials to lead Europe’s largest economy into a new era as it battles the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.
Merkel is stepping down after 16 years in power, and the race is wide open ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections. Opinion polls show the outgoing and centre-right leader’s Union bloc, with Armin Laschet running for chancellor, slightly or almost flat behind the centre-left Social Democrats, as Finance Minister Olaf Scholz seeks the chancellorship.
The Greens, with Annalina Berbock running the party’s first run for chancellor, lag behind in third, but they may end up playing the role of kingmaker in forming the government, The Associated Press reports.
Experts say one reason this year’s German elections are tighter and less predictable than usual is that the candidates are relatively unknown to most voters.
“It’s certainly not the most boring election,” said Hendrik Traeger, professor of political science at the University of Leipzig. “There was Angela Merkel who stood in the position of incumbent and it was simply a matter of who you would rule with.”
This time, Merkel’s party has struggled to revitalize its traditional base, which has so far failed to deal with Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia.
“The key question is whether these voters will overcome the Laschet hurdle and vote for the union despite Laschet,” said Peter Matusek of polling firm Forsa. “Or should they abstain or even choose another party?”
Schulze, whose party made steady gains in the polls during the campaign due to the strength of its relative popularity, touted the outgoing government’s success in keeping jobs during the pandemic.
“What we have seen is that we have avoided the major economic and social crisis that would otherwise have hit us,” he said at a rally in Cologne. “We have invested a lot of money in bringing in jobs and businesses during this crisis, and today we can say we succeeded. We see a recovery ahead of us.”
Schultz, who wants to raise Germany’s minimum wage and raise taxes on senior incomes, argued that anyone advocating tax relief for the wealthy now was “unreliable, and doesn’t understand anything about finance.”
The Union Bloc, an alliance between Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria’s only sister party, the Christian Social Union, maintains that any tax increases will be counterproductive as the German economy recovers. This would be the “completely wrong way” to exit the pandemic, Laschet said at a rally in Munich.
“The epidemic is now in its final stage, and (Social Democrats) are starting again with the old socialist classics from the ’80s – bureaucracy, raising taxes, caring for the people,” he said.
Merkel declared that “for Germany to remain stable, Armin Laschet must become chancellor and (the Union) must be the strongest party.” She was appearing for the second time in the final week of the campaign which she largely missed.
Laschet praised Merkel’s record. “It is up to us to carry forward this legacy,” he said. “If we get it wrong now, everything that has been achieved in 16 years can be squandered.”
Barbock, the Green Party candidate, focused on fighting climate change, the central issue of her party.
“This election is a choice of direction,” she said in Düsseldorf. “This election is a climate election.”
“We can’t afford half-measures any longer,” said Burbock, whose party wants to raise carbon prices and end coal use earlier than planned. “We finally need climate government – with all its might, with all its heart and with all its passion.”
“Yes, it is a risk to do something new, but where has the experience of government alone brought us, if this is the standard for parliamentary elections?” Barbock, the only candidate for chancellor who lacks government experience, wondered. “It led us to a dead end.”
Tens of thousands of environmental activists marched outside the German parliament earlier on Friday to demand politicians take stronger action to curb climate change.
Immigration has been less of a concern to many voters than it was in 2017. Foreign policy didn’t come up much during the campaign but became an issue during Thursday’s recent TV debate, as the Greens called for a tougher stance on China.
About 60.4 million Germans are eligible to vote to elect a new parliament on September 26. The stronger party will be the better to form a governing coalition, although this is not automatic.
The pro-business Free Democrats are eyeing a place in government after they stalled coalition talks after the 2017 elections. Germany’s far-right alternative is expected to do well in the country’s east, but other parties refuse to work with it.
The Left Party, which opposes the military deployments of NATO and Germany abroad, remains a potential potential partner of the Greens and the Social Democrats, a prospect that has alarmed the Conservatives. Friday’s center-right rally was fraught with warnings that such an alliance would harm the German economy and international standing.
Election officials say more people will vote by mail this year due to the pandemic, but that is not expected to affect turnout significantly.