50 Comments
User's avatar
Ken Sellers's avatar

The last thing I ever expected to follow is German politics - but this is good stuff!

Danno's avatar

eugyppius' has shown us just how entertaining it can be.

Warmek's avatar

There are rather more players in effect than in the States.

Tardigrade's avatar

Thanks for keeping us updated! Kind of disappointing, but at my age, I'm used to that 😜

eugyppius's avatar

no this is a good result, there would be quiet sighs of relief all throughout CDU if AfD took a majority of seats. (also that still might happen, we're very close right now).

Tardigrade's avatar

Having grown up imprinted with one dimensional American politics, the multidimensional parliamentary system continues to baffle me. I look forward to your analysis!

Willy Kuhne's avatar

Positive but tight. We need the BSW to drop below 5% asap.

Willy Kuhne's avatar

The biggest and most surprising bright spot - Saxony Anhalt is a old state. The youth did that.

BARRY ISAACS's avatar

All the news services refer to the AfD as a Far Right party. What a canard. My guess is that the Republican Party in the US would be referred to as a Far Right party in Germany.

pobrecollie's avatar

Why is it better that they don't achieve an outright majority?

Satoshi's Dream's avatar

Couple seats short and a kabuki coalition of all the rest is indeed the best scenario we can hope for. European economies are so utterly fucked we don't really want right wing parties to wear this, better to sit back and watch the rest struggle to stay above water.

Tardigrade's avatar

I think I see. If AfD took a majority of seats, the CDU would be relieved because that would avoid footnote #2 from your previous post?

Raoul Gunning's avatar

Thank you for your hard work

jdm's avatar

Interesting how the German electorate simply refuses to let AfD take power. It apparently prefers a government formed by parties that hate each other only slightly less than they all hate the AfD.

Art's avatar

And apparently are unable to apprehend that they tolerate the greens, who by all accounts have their first priority as antisemitism with a fig leaf, but will ceaselessly decry the AfD as “far right” and therefore some kind of revival of the Third Reich. Which seems to demonstrate that the European establishment is afraid of the specific policies of AfD (migration?) and care nothing about fascism per se.

Ray Noack's avatar

Wow ..wonderful

It is great to have a true evaluation and interpretation.

The US mainstream press is useless.

Bloomberg ,as is there mission blames the AFD rise on ….climate change .

Every article co matter the subject is required to use the term “ climate change “ .

Michael Bloomberg is certified insane . Yet with his net worth he swings a big stick

He is crushed that people still eat French fries ( with trans fat no less ..the horror the horror) and drink Large Cokes .

As mayor of NYC it was his main goal …to stop the idiots from enjoying themselves.

He has no moved on to make sure no one ever has a good day . How can you have a good day when ….” Climate change “

It is actually comical to see the staff writers insert “ climate change “ when discussing the Fed funds rate .

Sorry …no way to get news on election except Eugyppius…thank God for this site ..thank you Eugyppius.

Martin Smith's avatar

So all the small parties combine to keep the AfD out. What a fiasco that will be!

Chartertopia's avatar

They would never stay united long.

Timo's avatar

But what about "democracy"?! 😉

Ray Noack's avatar

Uh , democracy killed Socrates

Suzie's avatar

Thank you! Praying mightily for sanity to prevail! 🙏❤️🙏

Applied Epistemologist's avatar

Best possible result in terms of driving change, rightm

SCA's avatar

This is sure edge-of-the seat time. Will be following along heart-poundingly. We been trained over the past five years to take all this stuff extremely seriously. Life alteringly.

Tardigrade's avatar

I know, right? This is my weekly croquet afternoon, and if the results aren't final by starting time, I'll have to take my phone along for periodic updates.

SCA's avatar

Only a couple of Substackers now--starkly down from the first heady days of finding them--continue to give me the feeling we're all in this together.

la chevalerie vit's avatar

Thank you and good night from Japan

_Jim's avatar

Good afternoon from Texas.

Swagaman's avatar

Good morning from Missouri.

Viv's avatar

I don't see anyone with a turnout estimate yet, or a split between mail and in-person ballots, which is essential to judge change in turnout. But if turnout is higher, it's clear the "unsere Demokratie" mobilisation was only as effective as the AfD. The "Wählerwanderung" numbers we might get tomorrow at the earliest also interesting. As in how many FDP voters went to AfD versus cartel parties.

The cartel's big defeat here is the halving of the Union vote. This is an election of one loser - irrespective of which of AfD and the Cartel wins.

Viv's avatar

I am still, despite living in Germany for 20 years, despite voting AfD out of "least worst option" at the last GE, entirely unsure how any kind of government in ST excluding the AfD (and by extension any government excluding the AfD after the next GE) is going to remotely legitimise itself. I know how the press will try to, but it's just not plausible. Are most of us really so dumb as to buy that?

Tardigrade's avatar

Uh, yes?

(I apply that pretty much globally, not just to Germany.

Ruben Cober's avatar

Man, FUCK this whole democracy thing!! What do you mean ignoring what voters want on the topic they find the most important for decades and calling them nazis doesn’t work!? We did everything we could to protect democracy from its greatest threat, namely itself and citizens voting for the wrong party. Even calling them the übergefährlich Hitlerite fascist nazi party didn’t work??

Charlotte's avatar

Are the polls closed? Any old age home you can swing by and offer to help people over to the voting box, lol?

Shortest Circuit's avatar

Question is, will the other parties create a hogwash-coalition to keep the AfD out, then?