The tide is turning against the German Green party. Only seven and a half weeks ago the future looked rosy for the Greens. Annalena Baerbock — their young and dynamic party co-leader — had just been announced as their first candidate for chancellor.
The party rose in national polls to almost 30 percent and at times even overtook the CDU and its leader Armin Laschet. The chancellorship seemed within reach for the first time in the Greens’ history.
But a lot has happened since, and the party’s campaign is faltering. The latest “Deutschlandtrend” monthly survey by pollster Infratest dimap puts the Green party at 20% voter support well behind the CDU’s 28. Support for Annalena Baerbock has plummeted by 12% putting her behind her competitors, with the Christian Democratic Union’s Armin Laschet — who had been trailing for weeks — taking the lead.
This weekend the Greens will meet for a digital party conference to agree on their election program. They will also officially nominate Baerbock as the candidate for the chancellorship by a resolution of the party conference.
She and the party need to bounce back after their poor showing in last Sunday’s regional election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt the Greens received a disastrous just 5.9% of the vote, confirming that the Green party is not attractive for a rural east German electorate. The Green party’s success is in the west of the country and in urban areas but has failed in the region that used to be the communist East German GDR. That region has become the, is the stronghold of the far-right AfD.
Photo: (FILE) – Green party (Die Gruenen) co-chairwoman Annalena Baerbock. EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN
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