Habeck Urges Final Push in German Election Race, Appeals to SPD Voters
With less than 48 hours to go before the start of vote counting in the German federal election, Green Party candidate Robert Habeck called on his party supporters to make a final effort. The Greens have so far rung the doorbells of around 1.35 million homes, campaigning for votes, Habeck said on the evening of his last major election campaign event in Hamburg. It should now be possible to ring 1.5 million doorsteps by the time the polls close, he told hundreds of enthusiastic party supporters at the Hamburg Fish Auction Hall.
Habeck appealed to SPD supporters to vote for the Greens this time, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party is facing losses of at least ten percentage points and will "not be able to negotiate powerfully for its policies."
The conservative Union parties, on the other hand, represent a "beer coaster policy" of the 1990s, which is not suitable for governing in the 2030s. With regard to the Left Party, which has recently gained significant support in opinion polls, Habeck said: "The goal of politics must not and should not be to be in opposition. We have to try to change things now."
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said that the United States of America has always stood by Germany’s side. She does not know whether this will continue to be the case. "When other countries say: ‘My country first,’ we say: ‘Europe United.’"
Habeck said that Donald Trump’s election as US president and the Bundestag vote on migration with the votes of the AfD were a fundamental attack by authoritarian forces on the values of Germany and Europe. "This is Zeitenwende 2.0," Habeck said.
On Sunday, more than 59 million German citizens are called upon to elect a new Bundestag. Polls show the Union clearly ahead, followed by the AfD in second place. The SPD and the Greens are almost neck and neck behind them.
One week later, a good 1.3 million citizens in Hamburg will be called upon to elect a new state parliament. In the only state election this year, polls show the SPD clearly ahead, followed by the Greens. The CDU is in third place according to the polls. The SPD and Greens have governed Hamburg together since 2015.
