The SPD almost sees itself in the Chancellery, the sister party CSU ponders the consequences of a defeat, and the latest polls only give a little hope. Shortly before the last triell with his chancellor competitors on Sunday evening, Union candidate Armin Laschet is in a difficult position. It is almost certain that the Union will get a historically bad election result on Sunday. That is why both friends and foes are already talking about causes and consequences.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt made the start. It was clear to him that the party with the most votes would receive the next government contract, he said mirrors. “I just lack the imagination for a government led by a second-placed Union.” Dobrindt has thus significantly restricted Laschet’s room for maneuver.
Quite a few in the CDU leadership have been thinking for a long time whether there could still be mathematical possibilities for a coalition under Union leadership in the event of a defeat. But what could work like a lifeline for Christian Democrats, the CSU top Laschet has knocked out of hand for the time being. And that, although FDP leader Christian Lindner reminds again and again that this is exactly the case: a relative success of the SPD and an alliance under CDU leadership.
Dobrindt also emphasized in the same interview that he still sees a real chance for a victory for the Union. But he also emphasized that any result below 30 percent is not a good result and should therefore not be seen as anything positive. With this, the CSU sister Laschet is setting a brand that he will hardly be able to achieve. In the most recent polls, the numbers for the Union fluctuate between 20 and 22 percent.
Scholz thinks about the oath of office
Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz showed how safe the SPD now feels. In the Picture on sunday He not only promised that with him as Federal Chancellor there would be a minimum wage of twelve euros and a pension guarantee in the coming year. He also pondered whether he would use the religious formula “So help me God” in his oath of office. His answer: He won’t do that. His message: the Chancellery is close.
And then, a few days before the election, the President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) also clearly criticized Angela Merkel. The former Chancellery, Interior and Finance Minister criticized the Daily mirror on Sunday the decision of the Chancellor in autumn 2018 to give up the CDU chairmanship, but to remain in office as head of government for the full legislative period. “I am firmly convinced that both belong in one hand: party chairmanship and chancellery,” said Schäuble. This has not been the case for three years and makes it difficult for the Union candidate Laschet to take any clear position. Laschet could neither say that he is now doing everything new, nor that he is doing everything as before. This is a problem that not everyone has understood yet.
In addition to Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier, Schäuble played a major role in the fact that Laschet emerged as the winner in the EU-internal duel with CSU leader Markus Söder over the candidacy for chancellor. Schäuble can only remain in office as President of the Bundestag if the Union also has the strongest parliamentary group in the next Bundestag. Traditionally, this parliamentary group always occupies the office with a woman or a man from their ranks.
Laschet himself continues to fight. “We are the first to cross the finish line,” said the CDU politician World on sunday. The trend for the Union is upwards. “We feel that something is moving.” He sticks to the recipe of warning against an alliance of the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party. “Many people are only now realizing that it is a matter of a directional decision.” The story told by the SPD about Olaf Scholz as heir to Angela Merkel is wrong. “People notice that Scholz and Merkel stand for two very different political directions,” said Laschet. “The hubris of the SPD, this election has already been won, is shattered by reality.”