On this very Sunday, Germany elects a new Bundestag. It is our Parliament. For the last 4 years, we had a “große Koalition” which means, the two traditionally biggest parties form a coalition. This has happened before, in the late 1960’s. Since then, this model has the image of an emergency case.

Let me tell you something about the funny side of proportional representation!

With now 5 parties in the Bundestag, it has become quite hard to find majorities. It is very likely that the CDU, party of Chancellor Merkel, will win the election, but they need a partner. They want the FDP, liberal democrats who tend to be too liberal when it comes to ethics in economy. On the other hand, they are not liberal enough to even talk to other parties about possible coalitions. That’s the main problem of the SPD, minority partner in the recent great coalition. The social democrats nearly lost their complete left wing to newly founded Linkspartei, led by former SPD boss Lafontaine.

Only together with the Green Party and the Linkspartei the SPD could form a majority. The other problem besides the FDP is, the SPD promised not to worh together with the Linkspartei, at least under the current party leaders.

So the only remaining question for this Sunday is, will the conservatives (CDU / FDP) obtain a majority?

If not, some interesting alternatives await us:

SPD
FDP
GREENS – the so called Traffic Jam Coalition

CDU
FDP
GREENS – Jamaica Coalition or Black Traffic Light Coalition

SPD
GREENS
Linkspartei – Deep Red

I really hope for a left majority, but have my doubts. Most likely we’ll get another 4 years of a great coalition, which is not the worst in times like these. Eventually it will collapse and open up for new possibilities within two years.

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