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Christmas oratorio instead of election campaign: the state elections still seem a long way off. Politicians have time to reflect – for example, who they would like to govern with after March 14th.
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Stuttgart – On Christmas Eve there are only 80 days left until the state elections – the actual start of the super election year 2021. In Baden-Württemberg it will be decided on March 14th whether the Green Winfried Kretschmann may continue to rule after ten years, in the federal government on September 26th, who succeeds Chancellor Angela Merkel after 16 years. But the corona crisis largely paralyzes the country. When vaccination doses, mutated virus and the consequences of the lockdown are discussed, other topics have a hard time. And so the political celebrities in the Southwest recharge their batteries over Christmas for a challenging year 2021 and have time to think about a few big questions.
Christmas oratorio instead of election campaign
Kretschmann (72) is preparing for a “completely different Christmas” because of the Corona crisis. He will have to celebrate alone with his wife Gerlinde in Laiz (Sigmaringen district). “It’s a strange feeling, because our children have always been there for the past forty years and the grandchildren have been there for the last few years.” He does not want to do without going to church. “My wife has registered us for the service and when it is our turn, we will also visit it.” In general, “this Christmas may offer even more than usual the opportunity to reflect, to contemplate”. And: He wants to hear the Christmas Oratorio.
Read here: How Southwest politicians celebrate Corona Christmas
However, he will probably not get Corona out of his head completely. Because for him it starts again in no time. As early as January 5th, the Prime Ministers joined forces again with Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the situation after the lockdown. He doesn’t want to talk about coalitions in the crisis. When the Green bosses Sandra Detzer and Oliver Hildenbrand called the CDU a “block on the leg” and brought green-red into play, Kretschmann didn’t fit in at all. He leads in surveys before the CDU (35:30 percent) and wants to remain eligible for conservatives.
CDU wants to “unleash” – but who exactly?
Meanwhile, Kretschmann’s Minister of Education, Susanne Eisenmann, has to come up with something. In surveys, the CDU top candidate is far behind him in terms of personal values. The topic cannot be left out at home at Christmas either. Eisenmann (56) is also celebrating in the immediate family, but her husband, Christoph Dahl, was the spokesman for ex-Prime Minister Günther Oettinger. But you have to take a breath. She wishes the families in the country “a few relaxing days” and gives tips for the quiet time: walks, read a book or play “Mensch ärgere dich nicht”.
Read our plus offer here: Small parties are groaning under the lockdown
In order to be the first to get into the “little house” on election evening, the CDU wants to “unleash” the country – but Eisenmann, as a minister in the Corona crisis, seems tied to the subject of schools. She doesn’t really like handing out to the Greens either. The first course for the election year will be set on January 16, when the federal CDU elects a new boss. Should the favorite of the Southwest CDU, Friedrich Merz, fail, it would be quite a false start into the new year. A week later, the local CDU would then have to blow to catch up at the virtual state party conference.
Warm up instead of diving
Thomas Strobl (60) wants to relax and enjoy the virtual Christmas concert of the state police orchestra at home in Heilbronn. Since Eisenmann kicked out the vice head of government in the race for the top candidate, Strobl is holding back in the election campaign. But he can’t go underground at the end of the year. “Over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Eve, my wife and I are often out and about diving. That will of course also be omitted this year, ”said Strobl of the dpa. But sport has to be: “For example, I look forward to doing long and beautiful winter runs every day with my wife – preferably in the freezing cold, warmly wrapped up.” Election possible coalition talks.
Green-red Christmas fantasies
For the SPD in the southwest, election researchers are currently rather black. The comrades have shrunk to a full ten percent. But party and parliamentary group leader Andreas Stoch (51) hopes – even at Christmas – that his SPD will be involved in the next government. “At Christmas I will look at our beautifully decorated Christmas tree, which is of course beautifully green, but the most beautiful thing about it are the brightly burning red candles and the red balls.” It is no secret that the ex-minister of culture relies on green and red.
Read here: It is allowed to post it
But is it enough for that? The surveys are currently rather suggesting that a traffic light from the Greens, SPD and FDP would be possible. The liberal top candidate Hans-Ulrich Rülke (59) now announced in the “Welt”: “A traffic light could drive an environmentally friendly traffic turnaround that will keep jobs.” And what is he doing at Christmas? He spends that at home in Pforzheim with six people from two households. “And since I am an extremely law-abiding citizen, I don’t think about the traffic light on that day, because that would be at least three households with unrelated people and none of them are under 14, but too many from the risk group.”
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