So that's what we've got to work with

[oloriel]

Well, Jörg and I we were both right, I guess.

Looking at the local data, there definitely seems to have been a surge of support for "local boy" Lindner (whose Liberal Democrats got 18.6 % of votes in our town, as opposed to 10.7% in the national average), but also some rising support for AfD (although it delights me to see that they "only" got 8.4% as opposed to the national average of 12.6%. Still too much, but.)

In that light, I suppose it may actually be a good thing (and not only sore loser mentality) that the Social Democrats have already announced that they will not stand ready for another "great coalition" with Merkel's Christian Democrats, but limit themselves to opposition instead. That way, the voice of the right-wing AfD will (presumably? if the SPD stick to their announcement?) be hemmed by a reasonably strong block of Social Democrats , and the third oppositional party will be the Left. So three quarters of the opposition will be made up of moderate to strong left-wing politicians which will hopefully keep the right-wing shenanigans down a bit. Hopefully.

---

What really apalls me is news like from Duisburg, where apparently they didn't have enough ballots (like hello? YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO VOTE? AND AT WHICH POLLING STATION? Shouldn't they expect, just to be on the safe side, that 100% of voters show up? HOW THE HELL CAN YOU RUN OUT OF BALLOTS?) and voters had to wait for hours, or go home and return three times. This is how you discourage voters. This is how you drive voters to "protest vote" for the right-wing assholes. THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT WRONG.

Sheesh.

Yeah this will stop being a political blog any moment now but I had to ramble somewhere.

Comments

[ysilme]

Duisburg: I can't even.
Otherwise: I'm not shocked or surprised about the AfD results, I expected something of this kind - which doesn't mean that I'm not appalled by it. But at the same time, I'm really glad the FDP got so many, as well as the Left and the Greens, and I honestly think it was about time and will prove to be quite healthy for the Union and the SPD to have lost so many votes. It's about time for them to wake up! Considering this, I even think we got off not too badly, with over 87% still adhering to democratic values and not having fallen for certain paroles, stupid arguments, and empty promises. I refuse to be frightened or intimidated, I take this as the nation-wide wake-up call for us all.

18,6? Cool! BTW, we didn't notice an increased number of voters, but heard later that many more people than usual had demanded postal vote this year, and we did have an increased participation, I just don't know yet how much.
Edit: just read we had 79% participation in the district, that's definitely an increase.

[oloriel]

Yes, I hope it'll teach everyone to be a little less complacent in the future.
And as you say, the overwhelming majority of voters made a reasonable choice. The vocal minority is worrysome, but not the dystopian desaster some people are already painting.

[heartofoshun]

It's always interesting to hear about other countries' elections, which are actually more democratic than ours in the U.S. So hard to be heard in the U.S. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best along with you. And thanks for the lucid explanation of what these numbers mean. I do find 12.6% for the AfD alarming, but then I live in a perpetual state of alarm/vigilance--better than quiescence I think!

[oloriel]

It is alarming, simply because it means that there's clearly an audience for racist rhetoric once it masks as "worried about our values" and "speaking for the little people".

I continue to hope that this is simply the right-wing variation on the "Pirate Party" theme. (The Pirates were an innovative leftish movement that came, saw, was reasonably succesful in a couple of elections, made it into the Federal Parliament once, and then tore themselves apart and pretty much disappeared). I hope that AfD are going to likewise tear each other apart and disappear back into insignificance where they belong.

Glad you found my explanations elucidating though; I wasn't sure anyone would still get through these numbers...

[cowboy_r]

Here's something I think you'll really like:

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-41363465/bees-go-online-in-manchester

[oloriel]

Ooooh, nifty! Thank you very much! It's good to keep the cool things in view.

[independence1776]

Ugh. I'm glad the news isn't as bad as it could have been.

…They ran out of ballots. WTF?!

[oloriel]

It's about as bad as expected. (So perhaps we're just being overdramatic over here.)

Seriously! I realise that you never have a turnout of 100% at the polling station because some people vote by mail and some people just don't bother, but just in case...
I mean, unless literally a whole street decided to go to the wrong polling station and insist on voting there, there's no reason why they shouldn't have enough ballots prepared. One would think.

[independence1776]

Ugh. I'm sorry.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around it because it makes no sense. Yes, I understand that people don't want to waste paper by printing more than necessary… but it can be recycled. And people need to be able to vote!

[oloriel]

Oh, the ballots were printed (which makes it even more puzzling). They were just kept in some centralised place, and had to be carted out to the polling stations first. In a city as big as Duisburg (or Cologne, where this apparently also happened), that can take some time!
So it's not that people weren't able to vote at all, but some had to wait a very long time.

And it doesn't make sense to me because every citizen over 18 gets a standard letter telling them where their polling station is. And each polling station has a list of the voters assigned to that station. Heck, the list even notes who has already voted per mail (so these people can't cheat and vote twice). So they know how many people might turn up. Apparently people turned up earlier and faster than expected? IDK.

[independence1776]

Wow. I understand why they want them kept in a central place (ease of desctruction in case they're not needed! prevent voting fraud! whatever else!), but yeesh. I suspect if that happened here, there would be lawsuits because people don't have the time to wait.

*blinks* *stares at the screen* You… get… letters…. We don't. We get told once, upon registering, where your polling station is, though there are ways to check online. But it's generally assumed you know where to go if you're registered and when the dates are, whether it's the standard first Tuesday in November or not.