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German voters – free Democrats and Greens – shared little in politics. But now they have one thing in common: people are voting for them.
German youth flocked to the FDP with the Greens last Sunday, with 44% of under-25s voting for them. This highlights the need for change from the younger generation ignored by Angela Merkel who is right-wing among the Christian Democrats (CDU), who endured their worst political choices in history, and the middle-left Social Democrats (SPD), who emerged victorious. .
The two major parties ruled the post-war era in Germany, but the younger generation now sees the SPD and the CDU as lacking the wisdom to run their country in waterless forward – from the end of Merkel’s time at home, to global threats such as change. for the season.
“Those parties don’t have a global agenda. They don’t have anything they want to do, “said Justus Gutsche, 18, a member of the Young Liberals who voted for the FDP.” The Greens have nature. The FDP is free. What do the CDU and SPD have? ”
Younger voters have not been registered in German politics in recent years, researchers say: under the age of 30 make up only 14.4% of the electorate, compared to 57.8% of the over-50s.
But this time, their vote could help establish the next government: the Greens and the FDP have now decided to opt for a partnership with the SPD or CDU.
Choice data show the age divisions, the share in which the vote won by the SPD and the CDU is growing steadily with the age of the voters. For Greens and the FDP, the practice is different.
“Where voters will go in the next 20 years will depend on this [two] the parties are doing it now, “said Renas Sahin, 20, a first-time voter and member of Green Youth.
Simon Schnetzer, a political analyst who is scrutinizing the youth vote, said young Germans have experienced a “wake-up call” for years, ranging from the number of refugees in 2015 and what happened after that. Then there were the great demonstrations of climate change. Last year, the coronavirus exposed Germany as a backlog of work programs and speeded up the internet.
“Before these three problems happened… This was a ‘feeling good’ generation, it seems like a better future was secure. It doesn’t feel that way anymore,” Schnetzer said. “Their main issue now is to have a better future.”
Paulina Brünger, a winter youth rights activist and Demonstrator of the Future, recalled her surprise at the government’s response to the epidemic – from emergency legislation to financial planning.
“We had politicians say: this is a problem. It’s going to be difficult. But we can go through it together,” he said.
The epidemic also triggered the CDU, which won 25% of voters under the age of 30 in 2017, compared to 11% last Sunday. Young FDP voters told FT that they are following the restrictions to protect past generations, but still see their needs – such as setting up online training platforms – neglected.
“I remember the FDP was ridiculed in the 2017 elections for having digital as a headline,” said Noreen Thiel, 18, who this year not only voted for the first time but also was elected FDP representative in Berlin. “Our government has completely forgotten the youth.”
Although Green’s political appeal to young voters fighting for the future of the world is clear, Schnetzer was surprised that the liberators take the same proportion of first-time voters as the Greens, at 23%.
They also say the FDP victory may be a concern for their leader Christian Lindner, especially among young men. The 42-year-old politician drives a car in Porsche and is known to be smart. Lindner himself told the Financial Times that young voters chose his party “because the FDP is about freedom and enjoyment of life, professional happiness and skills as a promise for the future”.
FDP junior voters believe they have a share in the Greens: they all have the same views on human rights and marijuana registration, and they all want to reduce the voting age to 16.
“I’ve heard some cautious people say [lowering the voting age] it would only give the Greens a chance, “says Thiel.
Many young voters surveyed by FT supported the “traffic light” alliance of the SPD, Greens and FDP, believing it could achieve their goals.
But the young Greens left behind are still cautious. “If entering into a partnership with the SPD and the FDP means a lot of change. . . “Greens will consider whether what they are doing is the way forward,” Sahin said.
Schnetzer doubts that the two parties will be able to fight to fulfill the hopes of young people who will vote. “Until now, it was easy to say that they were revolutionaries,” he said. In the coming days, under pressure from powerful parties and the hopes of older voters, “they will show their willingness to change.”
However, continued neglect of young voters could put them at risk, Gutsche warned. They come from a poor part of the Middle East and in recent years have seen people who feel they should not turn to the German road. They fear the influence of the masses.
Adolescent climate activists, too, be careful others in their groups could resort to extreme measures if the next government did nothing to address climate change.
“I can’t expect another kind of rebellion,” Sahin said. But they are concerned that without change, trust in democratic institutions could be weakened. “We will not allow this to happen,” he said. “We can meet a generation that has lost hope.”