Election times ..... France, Britain & now Germany. And, what about good old NZ?
It has been an interesting time politically to be travelling across Europe. When we started in April the first round of the French elections were starting to heat up - there were posters in every town. All neatly displayed on boards out front of the Mairie with a few stuck up elsewhere. Generally there didn't seem to be any great interest in the policies; a few discussions on the television and some commentaries in newspapers. The people we stayed with via AirBnB and Warmshowers didn't feel inspired by the choices on offer and were none to happy with the outcome of the first round - they had voted for neither Macron nor Le Pen but had to vote for Macron in the second round to ensure Le Pen didn't come through.
They all commented that they had seen what happened in the UK with Brexit and in the USA with Trump winning and wanted to make sure Le Pen didn't triumph. Despite wishing for something better than Macron's neo-liberalism light they certainly would have hated to have seen France swing toward neo-facism.
See The Guardian commentary for results and analysis.
In Britain the elections were in full swing when we arrived on May 22 with voting taking place in early June. Most of the people we talked with were still reeling from the Brexit results and were none to happy that Teresa May had foisted this election on them in the hope that she would get a clear manadate for a tough Brexit stance when dealing with EU negotiators. Even met dyed in the wool Tories who were going to vote Labour to teach May a lesson, they were that wild with her & the Conservative Party for Brexit!
The Guradian had this video to help outsiders understand who was who and what was on offer. The video may have helped Brits, too as generally there was a lack of passion about the whole event. The big story was when Jeremy went to Glastonbury festival and really gave a rousing performance ..... mainly to the converted! Nigel Farage was not happy as this Your Brexit post explains! Even Boris got in on the act as this express article outlines, he told Parliament that other world leaders were alarmed by the possibility of Corbyn running the show.
The results when they came out following the vote really upset the landlady of the Lamorna Pottery B&B where were staying was upset that there was no clear mandate, that there was a hung parliament. "Makes us the laughing stock of Europe", she said, "We need certainty not this instability of coalition governments!" I found that interesting as we have now got used to majority parties having to negotiate the governance with minority parties to provide the diversity of policies and voices. We had quite a long talk about the First-past-the-post system versus MMP as NZ & Germany has.
Anyway, May & the Conservatives hung on to power by negotiating a deal with the DUP, which caused (and continues to cause) much disgruntled debate within, and beyond the Tory party. See Independent and The Guardian commnetaries.
Whilst the Brits are in a bit of disarray the rest of Europe looks over at Britain and shakes it's many heads in bemusment. Most Europeans regard the EU as a positive thing - they know it's is not perfect but it is better than separatness. They also regard Brtian as part of Europe but recognise that as an island nation they may not have the same feeling of connection that those living on the Continent do with each other. Unity in diversity seemed to be the motto for the Europeans we stayed with ... but I guess the Warmshowers community would not be attractive to neo-facists and nationalists!
And, so now back in Germany with an election in full swing right at the same time the NZ election is on. As I had been tracking events back home I was more attuned to political activity here in Germany. Mind you, one can't avoid knowing that tehre is an election on; there are billboards and banner everywhere outlining the main messages of just about every party aiming for 5% or more.
Background information about Germany's political parties and poll-tracker.
The Guardian commentary Aug 24
Interesting article on why the Green Party is wilting [May 2017] and another offering further critique of Green Party becoming victims of their own success
The right wing anti-immigration party is AfD. They're really an anti-Muslim party or anti-immigrant, period!
A small party that has many billboards is the Ecological Democratic Party. They seem to be a conservative, family-oriented deep green party.
A libertarian party may also gain representation again Free Democratic Party
whilst the Die Partei (below) is really out for a good time.
We get the impression that most people aren't that fussed about change. Most people in Germany are doing okay - things are comfortable and Mutti (Merkel) is representing Germany well internationally so maybe she can stay. There was an initial flurry of interest in Maryin Shultz, the only person standing against her for Chancellor, but much of that interest fell away when he just didn't shine. In recent weeks he has been trying to win back that initial interest. This commentary by a German writing for the LSE is an interesting perspective on German politics today ... and perhaps western democracy anyway.
Their head to head debate was live on TV Sep 03
These articles on democracy and it's inevitable collapse in its present form are worth a read:
NOTE: 3rd Sept: May write more once the election are over but out of energy tonight & have flight to Canada tomorrow where the roaming sim card plans are exhorbitant so may not be writing much from now on! May have to wait until back in NZ.
Don't forget to vote folks! We're aiming to postal vote almost as soon as we're in Canada!
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