Journalists and party members see on a screen at the press center (LR) Olaf Scholz, German finance minister, vice chancellor and Social Democrat candidate (SPD) in the chancellery and Armin Laschet, prime minister of the state of North Rhine- Westphalia and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for chancellor when he attended an election debate on television in Berlin on 12 September.
JOHN MACDOUGALL | AFP | Getty Images
The German election race picked up speed on Sunday night during a heated televised debate between the three candidates vying to lead the country after the Sept. 26 vote.
Olaf Scholz, Germany’s current finance minister and candidate for the Social Democratic Party, which currently leads the election polls, offered solid action against rivals during the debate despite questions about his direction from the finance ministry.
A quick survey of 1,750 viewers by ARD on Sunday night found that 41% of viewers found SPD’s Scholz to be the most convincing performer during the so-called “Triell” (or “trial”). ) of the 90-minute candidates. This exceeded 27% for Armin Laschet – the candidate for the Christian Democratic Union and his sister party the Christian Social Union – and 25% for the candidate for the Greens, Annalena Baerbock.
The debate, the tone of which was described as “aggressive” by the German media, was seen largely as a duel between Scholz and Laschet, with Baerbock having occasional moments in the fight. An ARD Berlin correspondent described the debate as “two men arguing”, while the Bild newspaper characterized the debate as a “victory of the poll for Scholz”. [but] Laschet fights, fights, fights. “
Laschet, whom the CDU / CSU hopes outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel can succeed, certainly used the debate as an opportunity to attack Scholz’s record in the finance ministry, days after German prosecutors stormed the finance ministries and justice as part of an investigation into financial reporting. United, an anti-money laundering agency overseen by the finance ministry.
At one point in the debate, Laschet accused Scholz of failing to oversee his FIU and told Scholz, “If my finance minister worked like you, we would have a serious problem.” Scholz refuted the allegations and accused Laschet of creating a “false impression” and of twisting the facts surrounding the raids.
“You can see how things go awry,” Scholz said Sunday evening. “Mr. Laschet, you have to accept the guilt very clearly. There was no investigation by the Federal Ministry of Finance and it is not the case that the prosecution … had any questions in an investigation against this ministry or the Ministry of Justice. You created this false impression on purpose, “he said.
Viewers seemed to maintain confidence in Scholz’s ability to handle the responsibilities of senior officials, with 49% in the post-debate instant poll considering him the most competent of the candidates, compared to Laschet’s 26% and 18% of Baerbock.
The majority of viewers (39%) considered the Greens candidate to be the friendliest of the three candidates, although Scholz was not far behind, with 34%. Laschet’s sympathy rating was down 18%, however, a rating ARD said could have been due to his more aggressive style of debate and the disruption of the other contenders.
Separately, an election opinion poll published Sunday for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed that the SPD had extended its lead over the Conservatives to six points. The INSA poll of 1,152 people last week gave the SPD 26% of the vote, while the Conservatives were left behind with 20% and the Greens with 15%.
Voters decided?
Experts say the race to become Merkel’s successor remains open, with many postal votes already cast amid an unprecedented mail-in voting rate this year.
Fabrice Pothier, strategy director at political consultancy Rasmussen Global, told CNBC on Monday that most people had already decided who to vote for. He noted on Monday that “voting day is two weeks away, but a large part of Germans have already voted, so it’s a campaign where every day is voting day.”
“That ‘s why the result can be unpredictable and [the vote in] Germany matters simply because it is the largest economy and most responsible for European decision-making, “he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Monday.
With the imminent departure of Merkel, Europe’s de facto leader in geopolitics, Germany’s next leader will have his job cut short, trying to establish new relations with other world powers at a time of changing dynamics in international affairs. .
“The key issue on the agenda is currently Europe’s role in the new geopolitical competition between the United States and China,” Janka Oertel, a senior researcher at the European Council on Foreign Affairs, told CNBC on Monday. .
“This is particularly relevant for the German economy which invests heavily in both markets and is the leading economy in Europe,” he added.
“So, for any successor to Merkel, how to position Europe and how to position Germany within Europe; and within these difficult issues of decoupling, of a globalizing economy; for a country like Germany, which it depends so much on foreign trade, these are the most important questions on the agenda. “