As most of you probably got by now will Germany’s next chancellor be a female – Angela Merkel. Although she represents the Christian democrats (=Conservatives), she has a past from the political system of the former East Germany (DDR). In the youth organization Free German Youth (FDJ), she was a “secretary for agitation and propaganda”. Now whether that was on a local level or on a higher level seems to be hard to figure out. In either case, that position is something that you wouldn’t just do, if you didn’t believe in the system on some level. So she is not the first woman to take that post – she will also be Germany’s first Stalinist to become chancellor! Congratulations!
In general, the elections went just as I had predicted, with the Left Party gaining enough votes to make both a Social-democratic/Green and a Christian-democrat/Libertarian coalition impossible. However, what I had not believed was that Schröder would completely ignore the Socialists. This means that the majority that SPD/Green and Left Party hold will actually turn into a government with the CDU having the upper hand.
However, I certainly hope Bavaria’s arch-conservative Stoiber is right in predicting a radicalization of the masses. This should hopefully mean an even bigger Left Party next time, but even more importantly it should mean the build up of an opposition movement outside the parliament. And I must admit that I am impressed by the German left – they usually seem to have so little interest in cooperating and they split all the time over the most bizare issues. But right now they really look like they are about to make it! Congratulations!