After the regional elections in Saxony and Thuringia in early September, which resulted in successes for the far right and which now involve laborious negotiations to form government coalitions, it is the turn of Brandenburg, the region surrounding Berlin, to vote this Sunday, September 22.
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From our correspondent in Berlin,
In the streets of Cottbus, a city near the Polish border, as elsewhere in the region, the faces of candidates and slogans are hung one on top of the other on lampposts. In this city marked by lignite mining and industry, a profound transformation has taken place since the reunification of Germany after the Cold War. Today, after the mass unemployment of the 1990s, the situation has improved. The region is developing with significant investments and growth is higher than that of the country as a whole.
But we feel, when talking with voters and candidates, that fears and anxieties remain underlyingin this traditional stronghold of the extreme right since reunification. Fear of immigrants, fear of a war with the Russiafear of an uncertain future, all against a backdrop of a deep rejection of politics. While I wait before interviewing a candidate of Cameroonian origin from the CDU (Christian Democratic Party), attacked this summer, her supporters explain to me the little good they think of migrants.
The same story, but more radical, is heard at an AfD meeting, where a few dozen activists are seated around sausages and beers. The local candidate, a figure of the movement, with the air of an ideal son-in-law, defends “remigration”, the sending back of migrants to their country. They are not simply targeting recently arrived migrants, as evidenced by the inscription on an activist’s t-shirt: ” HASGerman, since birth “.
A crucial vote for the central government
Olaf Scholz’s government in Brandenburg – as elsewhere – is met with massive rejection by voters. This Sunday’s election is therefore important for the Chancellor. This region has been governed by the Social Democrats since reunification 34 years ago. It is therefore a stronghold of the SPD, in a part of the country that is unfavourable to it, as has been shown Elections in Saxony and Thuringia September 1, when the party recorded scores below 10%.
The very popular Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke does not want to see the Chancellor at his side for his campaign and is distancing himself from Berlin. This says a lot, especially when you consider that Olaf Scholz lives in Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, and that his wife was a minister in the regional government. Dietmar Woidke has played his all: if he is overtaken by the AfD, he will end his political career, he assured.
If the SPD is overtaken by the extreme right and the regional prime minister changes, even if the Social Democrats will lead the next regional government no matter what, it would be a major blow for Olaf Scholz. The Chancellor is already very weakened. Among the coalitions desired by Germans in the future, the current alliance at the head of the country is desired by only 3% of voters. The conservatives of the CDU, including chairman Friedrich Merz, have been nominated as candidate for chancellorare in battle order and attract a third of voters in the polls. On Thursday, September 19, the center-left daily newspaper in Munich, South German newspaper, advised the SPD to take inspiration from the American Democrats and suggested that Olaf Scholz step down in favour of his popular defence minister, Boris Pistorius.
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