Victory winner Olaf Schultz chases votes at home

Elections in Germany

It’s claustrophobic in Potsdam outside Berlin, where two of the top three candidates in the election – Social Democrat Olaf Schultz and the Green Party Annalina Barbock – have their own constituency.

Hundreds of people flock to an unimportant suburban plaza, where Schulze recruits votes in the shadows of two tall buildings. A man sticks his head out of his window on the fifth floor, shouts something inaudible and raises his fist clenched. Schulz waves happily.

Had it not been for the police and one or two international television teams, one would have thought it was a local politician and not the German Finance Minister and perhaps the next chancellor to speak.

Schulz’s SPD has been leading in opinion polls since August, and many have counted the main opponent, Armin Laschet, of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, who have so far failed to win over voters.

However, it does On the same – a recent poll by the Allensbach opinion institute showed that only one percentage point now distinguishes between the two political giants. About four in ten Germans voted early this year, but there was still plenty of time to attract unsafe voters.

Anne, who does not want her last name in the newspaper, has not decided what she will vote for, but she hopes the SPD will be the bigger party.

“So the next chancellor doesn’t become a Christian Democrat,” she says.

Its heart issues are climate, justice and healthcare issues, as SPD wants a system with joint health insurance rather than the many different health funds where some are private and some are public.

Ann, who herself works for a health insurance fund, agrees.

“Even if it means losing my job,” she says.

Russian Jana, a student at the University of Potsdam, thinks the message was good. This is the second time she’s seen Schultz during the election campaign.

“I would definitely have voted for him if I had been German,” she says.

she has Fritz, who does not want to be in the picture, believes that most of the people who have already come here already sympathize with Scholz, but they want to strengthen their convictions.

“It’s fun to see,” he says.

Polling stations open at 8 am on Sunday.

TT