Ballot for the German Election tomorrow

This one is from the 77th district, which happens to be my one. The special thing about this district is that the conservatives have little hope of getting more than 10% of the vote. The other special thing: the three remaining important GDR civil rights activists are trying to win this one: Wolfgang Thierse, Günter Nooke and Werner Schulz.

Wolfgang Thierse, the Social Democratic candidate, enjoys the biggest publicity - he held the office of President of the Bundestag for the past seven years, the second most important office (according to the German constitution) and simply is by far the best of the lot: regular events in the district and an important role in federal politics.

Schulz, the green candidate, got a lot of attention by seeking legal ways to avert the elections. Other than that he has little to offer: he has little presence in the district and always was a back-bencher in Parliament.

Finally, Nooke: he switched parties to join the conservatives. It is safe to say that he won't be present in the next Bundestag.

I should add that all three major candidates enjoy my respect, it is sad that all three decided to run in this district. Alas Thierse is the only one with roots here and he has my total support.



a PDF (bigger):
http://www.statistik-berlin.de/wahlen/bundestagswahl-2005/stimmzettel/sz77.pdf

http://www.statistik-berlin.de/wahlen/


(this is a relatively short ballot)

wish we had it here.
but in the US, election reform is trying to keep the voting honest, not optimal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_Member_Proportional

The implementation in a federal republic has a few very weird (and unfair) side effects.

don't ask me.

:shrug:

Never met him. Nor his party - it apparently didn't meet the demands to submit a candidate list. Hence the right column (the party column) was left blank.