GERMAN ELECTIONS 2017

German voters undecided hours before polls open

With opinion polls suggesting a third of the electorate is still undecided about who to vote for a day before the federal parliamentary election, candidates have been out and about doing some last-minute campaigning. While Angela Merkel is widely predicted to be re-elected chancellor, her conservative CDU party seems to have taken a last-minute dip in support. It has slipped …

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How will Germans with foreign roots vote on Sunday?

The number of voters with a migration background, meaning that they or their parents were not born as German citizens, is growing. The SVR Forschungsbereich, a research group, presented an investigation in November 2016 that shows the parties with the strongest appeal among Germany’s migrants, providing a hint on how they will vote as the nation goes to the polls to …

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German chancellor trounces election rival Martin Schulz in TV debate, say viewers

Angela Merkel has been judged by viewers to be the more credible candidate following the election debate with her SPD rival, Martin Schulz. DW looks at the candidates’ positions on the key domestic and global issues. Chancellor Angela Merkel made the more convincing case to lead Germany for the next four years in Sunday’s television debate against her election rival, …

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Germany: Merkel heckled by anti-refugee crowd at campaign rally

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was confronted by whistling and screaming protesters during a campaign speech for the second time in a little more than a week. The defiant chancellor told the anti-refugee hecklers Germany still welcomes asylum-seekers. Merkel, who is seeking a fourth term as the chancellor in the 24 September election, spoke on Saturday to a crowd of 1,500 …

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Germany’s first African-born MP files charges over racist Facebook posts

Karamba Diaby, Germany’s first African-born Bundestag member, has filed charges against racist Facebook commentators. The far-right NPD questioned his right to represent German people on its page. Karamba Diaby, German MP for the eastern city of Halle, has filed criminal charges against people who made racist comments on a Facebook post by the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) on Monday. …

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Erdogan’s advice divides Turkish voters in Germany

The Turkish president has called on Turks living in Germany not to vote for “enemies of Turkey.” Will his call be heeded or ignored? DW’s Christoph Ricking went to the heart of Cologne’s Turkish neighbourhood to find out. Cologne’s Keupstrasse, the main street for Turkish life in the city’s Mülheim district, bustled with Monday morning business activity: trucks made shop …

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Erdogan urges Germany’s Turks not to vote for main parties

In an unusual intervention in Germany’s coming general election, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called on Turkish-origin Germans to give a “slap” to both parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition in September polls. Erdogan has caused consternation in Berlin by urging ethnic Turks in Germany to vote neither for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its coalition partner …

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