Political Season in Bavaria

7:30:00 AM Out And About Global 1 Comments

It is political season here in Munich. The state elections were held on Sunday and the national elections take place September 22nd.  The German political system is quite different from the US system--the people don't actually vote for the Prime Minister, they vote for representatives and the party with the most reps wins the right to choose the PM, clear?  

So, Angela Merkel is a member of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union, can you a US political party  having  Christian in the name and actually winning)?  Last election the CDU had the ruling majority in Parliament so they chose Angela to be the Prime Minister.  

Anyways, I found some of the signage to be very funny, especially from the Bayern Party.  I believe they are very right and almost secessionist.  You will notice the blue and white flag of Bavaria--Bavarians or southern Germans are very loyal to this area.  Bavaria has the most money, best education, lowest unemployment and the envy of the rest of the country.  The sign below suggests Bayern can go it  alone--from the rest of Germany. 
There is a common perception here that the south is bank rolling the rest of Germany (including the huge tax burden that came with reunification 20+years ago). There is also frustration that Germany is propping up the rest of the European Union.  This sign says, "We've paid enough."
It is now illegal to smoke in restaurants and even bier tents at Oktoberfest. The point of this sign is, all these things are forbidden, what's next, a forbidden state?  They want less government intrusion!
 The lion is the symbol of Bavaria and its kings of past.
But this sign from another right wing party, the Republicans, has to be my favorite! It says, "Which a** will you vote for next?"  The colored bottoms represent the colors of the leading parties in Germany.  Can you imagine such a sign in the USA?  Long live freedom of expression!

1 comment:

  1. UnknownSeptember 18, 2013 at 2:26 PM

    It is interesting to see the political process in another country. The signage is indeed funny especially the last one!

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