German Election Campaign Gains Momentum with a Role for Russia

berlin - The German election campaign heats up with a change in approach towards President Putin, as the CDU/CSU lead in polls.

The German election campaign has kicked off following the loss of majority by left-wing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the federal parliament in Berlin. The SPD candidate is trailing far behind conservative candidate Friedrich Merz in the polls. The CDU/CSU, led by Merz, is currently the frontrunner in the race. Around one in three voters believe that this party, successor to Angela Merkel, is best equipped to quickly and effectively tackle Germany's myriad of issues.

These issues include kickstarting economic growth since the European industrial engine has come to a standstill. Billions of euros are urgently needed for investments to bolster the flagging infrastructure, and to modernize and make the economy and energy supply more sustainable. The sluggish German bureaucracy, slow internet, and poor mobile coverage need immediate improvement.

Former Chancellor Merkel made Germany heavily dependent on cheap Russian gas and postponed the reform of the aforementioned issues. The influx of illegal migrants surged, while she financially and materially weakened the Bundeswehr. Merkel's lax response to Russian aggression by President Putin proved disastrous for Ukraine.

Her successor and longtime adversary Friedrich Merz promises significant changes. He even voted with the left-wing government to allocate an additional one hundred billion euros to modernize the Bundeswehr. However, he breaks with the tradition of appeasing Putin that Merkel followed for sixteen years. The CDU aims to provide Ukraine with everything necessary for its national defense.

The Russian invasion is also shaping the German election campaign and consequently the next federal government. With sitting Chancellor Olaf Scholz now only serving in a caretaker capacity, his Social Democratic Party can only convince sixteen percent of voters, half of the support the Christian Democrats enjoy. This is the lowest level ever for the once-labor party.

Scholz sees himself as a self-proclaimed 'peace chancellor' and believes he must contend with Merz. He recently spoke with Putin, the last personal contact being in 2022 when he unsuccessfully tried to dissuade Putin from the invasion in Moscow. Scholz aims to appease his partly pacifist base and the East German voters who lived in the Communist DDR until 1989. For this generation, the Soviet Union was a friend, and the West, together with America, was the class enemy.

Scholz has been refusing for months to deliver the German Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv. These weapons would be highly effective in reaching targets behind the front line in Russia. CDU figurehead Merz is inclined to assist Ukraine in this manner. However, both Moscow and the pro-Russian opposition parties AfD and BSW staunchly oppose this move, arguing that Germany would then be directly involved in the war.

This taps into a German trauma, the Second World War, which still heavily influences many debates in the country. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has mentioned the possibility of an international peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. If a ceasefire were to be achieved, German soldiers could potentially contribute to maintaining the frozen front line.

'We are being dragged into a war,' warns AfD opposition leader and candidate Alice Weidel, emphasizing that 'Russia is a nuclear power' and threatens retaliation. Her pro-Kremlin party 'Alternative für Deutschland' is deemed a threat to the state by the German intelligence service. However, their anti-migration stance and calls for exiting the EU and NATO resonate with many Germans, as indicated by their eighteen percent polling which surpasses the SPD.

Below them at thirteen percent are the Green Party, led by Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck. This former writer serves as the Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate. After Putin's invasion, he oversaw the disconnection from Russian energy sources and the construction of LNG terminals for liquid gas. However, his costly ecological measures for sustainability are met with mixed reactions from voters. The bans on combustion engines, coal, and nuclear energy are contentious issues.

His former colleague Christian Lindner of the small liberal FDP party was the one who pulled the plug on the German coalition government. As the treasury minister, he was reprimanded by the Constitutional Court for a fiscal misstep. There isn't even a proper budget for the coming year. Lindner, dismissed by Scholz, is accused of neglecting national interest, particularly during the economic crisis when thousands of industrial workers were laid off daily. The intelligence services issue serious warnings about Russia's hybrid war against Germany.

While the FDP hopes to just pass the five percent electoral threshold, it seems like an easy task for leftist populist Sahra Wagenknecht. Her affiliated BSW Alliance appears poised to achieve this. Wagenknecht's cultural agenda against the woke urban elite and economic stance against global capitalism have resonated well, especially in East Germany.

However, there is a catch. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier still needs to approve the early elections. He has some time in his Berlin palace to do so and will reach out to all Bundestag factions to seek a majority. It is expected that he will aid his SPD party colleague Scholz in a new round of elections.