# 2013 German Elections

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2013-german-elections/647873>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 21, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2013-german-elections/647873 "2013-01-21T05:22:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2013-german-elections/647873/1 "2013-01-21T05:22:28Z")

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Germany is scheduled to vote sometime in the fall of this year for a new _Bundestag_.

The parties running are:  
Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union-Led by Frau Angela Merkel, this is Germany’s main conservative party. The CSU is the Bavarian branch of the party.  
Social Democratic Party-The main opposition on the left, traditional European social democrats  
Free Democratic Party-A strongly pro free-market/classical liberal party  
Green Party-What it says on the tin  
Left Party-A mix of leftists unhappy with the SDP and unreconstructed communists

I’d usually go for the CDU especially since Frau Merkel has possibly been the best global leader in the current recession, helping strengthen the European Union and the Euro and keeping Germany economically healthy but I’d support the Free Democrats in this election since 1) they have a strong chance of not getting enough votes for representation in parliament and 2) they are the only major party that supports nuclear power.

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**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2013-german-elections/647873/2 "2013-01-21T18:27:32Z")

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I don’t deny Merkel has done a good job.  
But her party is a tad too conservative on other issues (although screaming liberals compared to our Republicans here in the USA) and the SDP would be good to get back in for awhile.

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2013-german-elections/647873/3 "2013-09-23T01:40:10Z")

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So with the elections over, Merkel got barely close to a majority with 311 out of 630 seats for CDU/CSU. However with the natural coalition partner FDP eliminated from the Bundestag the only likely coalitions are a grand coalition between SDP and CDU/CSU or one between CDU/CSU and the Greens.  
Personally I’m moderately satisfied with the results with both the luddite pedophile apologists and the Stasi party losing votes and a grand coalition looking more likely than anything. Admittedly I’m rather disappointed with the FDP result although I only liked them for their principled pro-nuclear stance.