What should I vote?

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Today, we have elections for the Ministerpräsident in North Rhine/ Westphalia, Germanies by far biggest state.

Needless to say, this is a pretty crucial one, with NRW being the last Bundesland at all with a Red/Green Gov...

Now, I really don't know who I should vote for. A situation totally new to me; I'm allowed to vote since 1986, but that was never any problem.
Like I never ever would have voted for Kohl or Strauß/ the CSU in Bavaria. Or Kanther in Hassia.

But this time:

SPD (Social Democrats) - completely screwed up education and finances; and a MP I personally cannot stand at all. That shouldn't be the prime argument, but I simply cannot find anything that speaks for him (and hey, I could find arguments for Stoiber ).

CDU (Conservatives) - Their candidate was a complete joke in the Kohl cabinet already. Personally, unlike the SPD one, I have no problems with him - but as politician, he's out. And, CDU will never get my vote, as long as it could help Angela Merkel.

Greens - My usual vote, but here...the NRW Greens are backward fundamentalists. OTOH, they are the only ones with something like an agenda still, and not only "We want the Power"....

FDP (Liberals, as in 'Liberalism') - Ok, the're out (for foreigners: Not because of their program in general, but because of their former head- Riesenminister Möllemaus).

And oodles of ridiculous to extremist parties not really worth listing.

Any reasonable advices?

 

[The Last Conformist]

Vote PDS.

 

[ComradeDavo]

I'd say vote Green, they seem like the least worst, and if you vote for them normally anyway then do so and hope that the rest of their party guides them from the path of 'fundamenatlism'.

 

[stormbind]

Greens, because I don't know anything about the others and generally the Green parties of each nation ally with each other in Europe.

 

[AceChilla]

What do your Green people want to do that makes them fundamentalist? Make everyone a vegetarian?

 

[kronic]

Kinder statt Inder. Rüttgers is the worst of all.

He'll probably win though.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

What do your Green people want to do that makes them fundamentalist? Make everyone a vegetarian?

It's not their program. You'd most likely agree with everything in there (assuming you are anti- nuclear power).
It's the fact that they focus on debatting with their SPD partner for a decade about the big themes (like the coal mines), where they can never get anywhere as minor partner; and at the same time, they completely fail when it's about the minor issues they could influence.

Nice example: The Greens do want more bicycle ways (uh, cannot find a translation here; 'Radwege'). So, there's a program in NRW subventioning cities to build more of those.
Result:
Well....true, cyclists have lots of priorities. But not to cars - but pedestrians . They simply declared the sidewalks to cycle ways!
I've lived in 3 other Bundesländer so far, in even in Bavaria they managed to do it correct in the inner cities:
Pedestrians first. Then public transport, then cyclists. Cars last.

NRW: Except for Cologne, pedestrians clearly come last. Note there is no signifant public transport outside the Rhine/Ruhr area.


PDS: Because of the German election system (any party with less than 5% doesn't count) it doesn't really matter if you vote for the Nazis/PDS/Family Party/...you will be counted as 'Protest Voter' - and thus, you could stay at home as well.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Nice example: The Greens do want more bicycle ways (uh, cannot find a translation here; 'Radwege'). So, there's a program in NRW subventioning cities to build more of those.
Result:
Well....true, cyclists have lots of priorities. But not to cars - but pedestrians . They simply declared the sidewalks to cycle ways!
I've lived in 3 other Bundesländer so far, in even in Bavaria they managed to do it correct in the inner cities:
Pedestrians first. Then public transport, then cyclists. Cars last.

NRW: Except for Cologne, pedestrians clearly come last.

Hm. I found Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) ridiculously bike-unfriendly. Then, I come from highly bike-friendly Linköping.

PDS: Because of the German election system (any party with less than 5% doesn't count) it doesn't really matter if you vote for the Nazis/PDS/Family Party/...you will be counted as 'Protest Voter' - and thus, you could stay at home as well.

I wasn't being serious wrt PDS.

 

[stormbind]

What do your Green people want to do that makes them fundamentalist? Make everyone a vegetarian?

There's no chance of that happening in Germany.

I cannot buy German imported food because 99% of the normally vegetarian products have added animal extracts

Thankfully, German products are renegated to a handful of German-owned stores.

 

[Gelion]

Spd.......

 

[CruddyLeper]

Use it as a protest vote maybe? Vote against current incumbents by voting for some other party that opposes them (but isn't too popular).

Here's the theory; you are a regular Green voter. The Greens count on your support. But you aren't happy with what they are doing. So you vote for someone opposing the Greens, to oppose them (rather than being pro the other party).

And you were VERY close with bicycle ways... in UK it's cycle paths or cycle ways. The "bi" at the front is often dropped altogether, or used for a new word ("bikes", slang).

 

[h4ppy]

All those choices seem pretty crappy, my suggestion is to not vote.

 

[Ciceronian]

Vote CDU! If you vote Green you are actively supporting the current red/green coalition which is ruining the whole country. Plus greens are anti-nuclear - which I do not understand at all since that is the most enviromentally friendly form of efficient energy production. CDU generally has a good policy for Germany.
I heard on German news that they might have nation-wide revotes, since allmost all states are now CDU-ruled, and the SPD cannot pass new legislation in the Landestag I believe. Now that would be a real mess!

 

[kronic]

No. The government still has a majority in the Bundestag and the opposition doesn't have a 2/3 majority in the Bundesrat. That means, nothing changes.

However, Schröder decided to call for an earlier election after the loss in NRW. That said, we will have a federal election in some months instead of September 2006.

And btw, the current government isn't ruining Germany anymore than the former one.

 

[Perfection]

Don't like 'em? Abstain! Or if you can do a write in!

 

[The Last Conformist]

However, Schröder decided to call for an earlier election after the loss in NRW. That said, we will have a federal election in some months instead of September 2006.

This is gonna be fun.

And btw, the current government isn't ruining Germany anymore than the former one.

The problem isn't that they're ruining it, but that they don't seem to be doing very well at saving it. Now, if I had much faith the CDU would do better ...

 

[Hitro]

However, Schröder decided to call for an earlier election after the loss in NRW. That said, we will have a federal election in some months instead of September 2006.

This is the end of the Schröder era, my friend.

 

[kronic]

Yes, and we'll have our own Iron Lady.

 

[Hitro]

Yes, and we'll have our own Iron Lady.

Lady...?

Well, the horror doesn't seem to know any boundaries...

 

[Ciceronian]

The German population passed up a big chance when they failed to vote for Stoiber a few years ago. He would have made a fine Kanzler, and would have made all of Germany as prosperous as Bavaria. But the prospect of Merkel as Kanzlerin doesn't excite me as much somehow.