Post photo: Pixabay
Currently, most of us are dealing with the consequences of the countermeasures and some are directly concerned with the consequences of COVID-19; some of us are even actively involved in healthcare as we strive to finally get the pandemic under control. The majority of our population is meanwhile fully occupied with getting a vaccination so that we can go back to the restaurants or plan our next vacation.
The upcoming federal election, in which we will elect the 26th German Bundestag on Sunday, September 2021, 20, is easily forgotten. We still have 18 weeks to get to know the election manifestos of the competing parties and groups of voters as well as the respective candidates in our constituency.
As a first step I recommend the official website for the federal election 2021. There you will already find the first election programs — I assume that most parties will present one in the next few weeks — and the parties taking part in the election, as well as their top candidates.
The complete list of all parties taking part in this year's Bundestag elections will be announced by the Federal Returning Officer by July 7, 2021 at the latest, after which there are just under 11 weeks until the election.
In the last federal election, we had a nationwide voter turnout of 76,2%, which can be seen as a good result. Now I hope that the parties and their candidates will slowly pick up speed and that the other political organizations will also start campaigning for a good turnout.
It is remarkable that the current Bundestag elections will cost us citizens a good 100 million euros and that we also spend more than one billion euros a year on our Bundestag. These sums alone justify our taking a closer look at this election in September 2021.
The federal constituency of Heilbronn bears the number 267 and has around 350 inhabitants, of which around 000 are eligible to vote. In the 250 federal election, 000% of those entitled to vote also voted, which was slightly above the national average.
Directly elected in 2017 Alexander Trom (CDU), who entered the Bundestag for the first time with a share of the vote of 35,3%.
Josip Juratovic (SPD) made it after a very long night with 23,2% in the Bundestag, of which he has been a member since 2005.
Auch Michael George Link (FDP) made it back into the Bundestag with 9,6%, of which he was a member from 2005 to 2013.
It was extremely unpleasant that a right-wing extremist party, at least in Heilbronn, which, among other things, instead of commemorating the National Day of Mourning, officially acclaimed the Nazi hero via a Facebook post from their local council faction Albert Leo Schlageter remembered, with 15,6% of the votes for a gentleman who was completely unknown to me, I was able to send such a lady to the Bundestag.
As far as I know, numerous parties and candidates will also be standing in Heilbronn for the upcoming federal elections in 2021, and I know for sure that the FDP will be there again Michael George Link will compete. Even Josip Juratovic has thrown his hat in the ring again, struggling with the SPD demoting him to a less successful list spot. And also the Heilbronner directly elected member of parliament from 2017, Alexander Trom, will run again for the Bundestag with 96% support from his party.
Now I'm curious to see which other parties and groups of voters with which candidates will also announce their candidacy in the coming weeks.
But I'm even more excited to see what ideas and suggestions our Heilbronn candidates will use to promote their election.
Hopefully the whole thing doesn't get lost in our holiday preparations!