GERMANY: Germany's Greens focus on the negative at final rally ahead of September 22 general elections

Record ID: 214057

  • Title: GERMANY: Germany's Greens focus on the negative at final rally ahead of September 22 general elections
  • Date: 20th September 2013
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 20, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GREEN PARTY SUPPORTERS AT RALLY VARIOUS OF GREEN PARTY'S TOP ELECTION CANDIDATES, JUERGEN TRITTIN AND KATRIN GOERING-ECKARDT STANDING AND TALKING IN CROWD GREEN PARTY BALLOONS WIDE OF TRITTIN SPEAKING ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GREEN PARTY TOP ELECTION CANDIDATE, JUERGEN TRITTIN, SAYING: "And what is the alternative? A Christian-Liberal coalition. They cut aid to developing countries, they break their own promises, they don't want to give out as much foreign aid as the Netherlands, as Great Britain. And I say, this coalition has long not deserved the label "Christian". SUPPORTERS APPLAUDING WIDE OF GOERING-ECKARDT ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GREEN PARTY TOP ELECTION CANDIDATE, KATRIN GOERING-ECKARDT, SAYING: "We still have 48 hours to fight. We can do it, we can still turn this around. For strong Greens this Sunday. Thank you." GREEN PARTY BALLOONS TRITTIN AND GOERING-ECKARDT WAVING TO CROWD FROM STAGE, GIVING THUMBS UP WIDE OF TRITTIN AND GOERING-ECKARDT ON STAGE / CROWD
  • Embargoed: 5th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2L7GZFSZLII0UFB4E1QXEPJL5
  • Story Text: Germany's Green Party, the Social Democrats preferred allies, held their final campaign rally in Berlin on Friday (September 20), where their top candidates focused on the negative in an effort to win over voters just two days ahead of the country's federal elections.
    As drizzle fell, the party's leader and top election candidate, Juergen Trittin, said the current coalition was not living up to its "Christian" label.
    "And what is the alternative?" Trittin asked the crowd. "A Christian-Liberal coalition. They cut aid to developing countries, they break their own promises, they don't want to give out as much foreign aid as the Netherlands, as Great Britain. And I say, this coalition has long not deserved the label "Christian".
    The Greens have seen their support diminish over the course of the election campaign. Over the past two months, it has crumbled to 10 percent, a four-year low.
    The collapse, in the most crucial phase of the campaign, appears to have doomed what faint hopes the party had of returning to power with the Social Democrats (SPD), with whom it ruled from 1998 to 2005. It also means their hopes of holding the balance of power has dwindled.
    But the party is still fighting, as Trittin's co-leading candidate, Katrin Goering-Eckardt, expressed when she took the stage.
    "We still have 48 hours to fight. We can do it, we can still turn this around," she said.
    The Greens' best hope may be to top their record 2009 result of 10.7 percent. But even if they do so, they seem destined for four more years in opposition.
    Polls published on Friday and this week point to a tight result on Sunday (September 22), increasing the likelihood of a Merkel-led right-left "grand coalition" government. Forsa and the Allensbach institutes, in separate polls on Friday, showed the centre-right at level pegging with the leftist opposition.
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