Election Night: Impressions from Around the World
“Voter” in Riga (Photo: Zigrida Murovska)
23 September 2013
Election night this Sunday was closely followed not only by people in Germany. The Goethe-Instituts worldwide held election parties.
In Tokyo, for instance, the Goethe-Institut extended invitations to a Long Germany Night. It began with a crash course about the political system and the Bundestag elections in Germany. In a fictitious election with about 200 participating visitors the Greens – unlike their actual result – did surprisingly well. If the Japanese had their way, it would be the strongest party in the Bundestag.
Election evenings were also held at other Goethe-Instituts. In Riga, for example, election night was held in cooperation with the embassy and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In between stacks of pretzels and informative materials from all the parties, the initial projections from Germany were received with astonishment as well as equanimity. “Wow. The CDU is gonna win!?”
In Dublin, Pastor Joachim Diestelkamp was surprised at how well the CDU performed. “I expected more votes for the SPD,” said the 52-year-old. Terry Quigley, also 52 and an employee at the Goethe-Institut, was happy about the chancellor’s victory. “Angela Merkel seems to be popular and she’s doing a good job.” Patrick Banning, 35, from the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce, is also satisfied with the results, he says, “as long as Angela Merkel stops meddling in Irish affairs.”
Election in Germany: Impressions from the world
The 200 or so visitors to the election party in Bordeaux were not so outspoken. The group was so mixed that hardly anyone could imagine what party-political preferences the person next to them might have. They therefore kept their feelings to themselves.
In Brussels 400 people came to the Goethe election party and, according to some, in part because it was politically neutral. One visitor said, “I’m hoping for a grand coalition, with or without Peer Steinbrück. For the FDP, this evening is a new beginning, probably under Christian Lindner. It will be tough for them, especially at the European level.”
On Sunday evening 150 guests also showed up for the election party in Johannesburg that was moderated by ARD radio correspondent Jan-Philippe Schlüter. In Wellington, New Zealand the clocks tick a little differently; it was morning when the initial prognoses were announced. About forty people came to the Goethe-Institut nonetheless for an election breakfast and live broadcast of the heavyweight round.
Election at Goethe: The Greens cooked red sauce in a Berlin day-care centre, the “Merkel diamond” adorns not only the railway station in the capital, on Alexanderplatz the SPD already celebrates 72 hours before the election and a lozenge manufacturer takes advantage of the election campaign for controversial self-advertising: The Goethe-Institut’s two youth portals, Jádu and To4кa-Treff, took closer looks at the ups and downs of the campaign and blogged their new impressions from Berlin daily. Both also dealt with the topics of democracy, Germany’s strangest parties, self-staging in politics and the issue of voting rights for foreign citizens in special articles (on Jádu, on To4кa-Treff).
