Germans decide what the post-Merkel era will be

Who will be the new face of Germany? After 16 years and four terms, since this morning 60 million Germans write the beginning of the end of the Merkel era. The German Chancellor leaves power and four candidates are in the running: Armin Laschet for the CDU, Olaf Scholz for the SPD, Annalena Baerbock for the Greens and Christian Lindner for the liberals of the FDP.

Since 8 a.m., the Germans They elect the deputies who will make up the Bundestag, representatives who will then be responsible for forming a government coalition. Voters have two check boxes on their ballot. They vote first, in their constituency, for a candidate for the Bundestag, that is to say a legislator. Whoever wins will have a seat in Parliament.

On the other hand, and because of the country’s electoral system, In a second option, in this case not direct but proportional, a list of representatives of a political party is chosen. A counterweight system, very balanced and which tries not to generate majorities, allocates seats according to the percentages achieved by each formation.

Despite some delays due to coronavirus protocols, from Berlin Infobae I can check in the middle of an election the normal course of the election day. However, in the German capital, some schools showed long queues, due to ticket shortages and strict controls due to the pandemic.

In addition, Berliners will vote slowly due to the city’s marathon. In total coexistence with the elections, the event cut many streets and avenues, making traffic difficult. This causes some inconvenience in the supply of more than 300 polling stations. The attendance rate in Berlin at noon was 27.4 percent.

As in the rest of Germany, the electoral authorities are demanding protective “masks” against Covid 19, as indicated by the signs at the entrances to places designated to vote. Those responsible for each table are protected by an acrylic or plastic plate that separates them from the voters. At least in Berlin, the sunny day, something strange for this time of year, also allows capacity in schools to be respected and citizens can wait their turn in open spaces.

Another sign of the day is the postal ballot. According to the Berlin state election official, a total of 988,201 ballots were cast for the Bundestag elections on Saturday, the House of Representatives and the assemblies of the district councils, as well as a referendum on the expropriation of large groups of houses in the German capital. This means that the number of people who received voting materials by mail is 44% higher than in the 2017 Bundestag elections. Four years ago there were 686,177 ballots.

As the day progresses, the expectation of what may start to happen after 6 p.m., when tables close, will be oriented towards how she behaved in a large number of undecided people. The Forsa Demographic Institute projected on Friday 26% of voters who did not know who they were going to choose. This generates even more uncertainty, for an election that will confirm the great political fragmentation of the country.

The absence of a figure like Chancellor Angela Merkel anticipates that the formation of the government could last several months. It is unlikely that a single party will win a majority on its own. With this panorama, several political parties will have to join forces to form an alliance which forms a government.

This coalition is the one that will be decided by the Chancellor. For the first time, neither the Social Democrats nor the Christian Democrats can form a coalition of two political forces, which is why a tripartite alliance means that the post-Merkel era will already have difficult negotiations.

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