Last Thursday, the forthcoming German elections were declared constitutionally legal. Hence on Friday morning on the way to my bakery, lots of men in white vans were fighting for the most prominent places to hang their placards. And interesting to talk to they were 
too: I “liked” the Republikaner the best; two men, one young, one old, with matching closely cropped hair and blue overalls. They appeared to only have one kind of placard, reading “4 Milionen neue Arbeitsplätze – wir sorgen dafür”, which they were trying to hang as high up lampposts as possible, in order to prevent them being almost immediately either vandalised or removed.
Interested to know how they were going to achieve this economic miracle of slashing unemployment by 80% and also, being a bit of a provocative git, I approached them to ask how they were going to manage it (building Autobahns, replacing troop losses on the Eastern Front)?
“Get rid of all the Turks, niggers and all the other foreign criminals”, replied the older one, which suggested why his job is to stick up placards, rather than ask people in the main shopping street if they plan to vote Republikaner.
“Do you intend to give the Republikaner candidate your first vote*?” he asked, having singularly failed to notice my heavy English accent.
“Being English, I can’t vote in the federal elections”, I told him.
“Ah, but you English are okay – decent people like me, well apart from all those people from the Empire of course.”
Note: I’m sure this doesn’t reflect official party policy. No, the official party line is that they care “Die Ausländer könnten sich in ihrem Heimatland als Firmengründer oder als Dauerprivatiers niederlassen.” So, everybody’s happy then….
The next day, someone had pulled all the Republikaner placards down. And no, it wasn’t me.
* The German election system is strange if one is used to a first-past-the-post system, I really should get around to trying to explain both it and why the CDU & FDP aren’t going to win. Does anyone know if it’s possible to gamble on the German elections and what the odds on a SPD/CDU coalition are?
German Phrase For Today: “plakatieren” – Blocking the entrance to the vintners with your white van
Song playing as this was published: Joy Division “Leaders Of Men”
Not really gambling, but you could try investing on the result at Wahlstreet.
Thanks Armin, that looks like I could waste a few hours playing it…..
I’m a little behind on German politics now, I knew of the founding of the WASG but I haven’t come across the MLPD are they one and the same or is there suddenly an explosion of red flags over there?!
Yes, I’m with The Baron, blog more about German politics and the election. Of course, I am merely projecting my private passion onto you, but my German reading skills have atrophied and the english speaking media is not talking about things like voting systems and combined numbers. Feed my infomania please.
Hi Actual,
Sparky here, Jen’s husband.
VERY good article on the Republikaner, they are, in fact the most hilarious…
maybe with the notable exception of the Transcendendal Meditation Party
or the PBS (Party of Bible-Believing Christians).
And yes, RedBaron, I hate to admit that Commies of all sorts seem to apply
?
more and more to the “New German mentality”. Maybe its time for me and
my wife to go back to America again. Ah well, the choice between
the New Commies and the New Fascists… why didn’t they give Clinton
a third and fourth run, I ask
Wanna bet that each of those will make less than 1%, even the REPs?
If you need help with explaining the German voting system,
the 5%-hurdle, first and second votes, direct mandates etc.,
just hit me up via Email or post a request on my wife’s Blog.
Best ones,
- m.
http://heissescheisse.blogspot.com
The REPs are the most hilarious, indeed!
Although the APPD (Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany) does provide a bit of comic relief, too - check out ther website at http://www.appd.de/ and by all means, watch their “Wahlspot” (election ad) at http://www.appd.de/wahlspot/wahlspot.php.
it caused quite a bit o media ruckus when they put it on TV (stations around here are FORCED by law to air political ads from registered parties in the three weeks before an election).
- Sparky
Baron: There’s been an explosion in the number of what one can fairly call far- left parties. Die Linke (the combination of the PDS and the WASG are probably going to be the only ones that get over the 5% hurdle though)