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Updated August 21st, 2021 at 21:05 IST

Germany: Angela Merkel's bloc begins poll campaign ahead of September 26 elections

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc kicked off its official campaign amid a worrying slump in its poll ratings. The election is scheduled for Sept 26.

Reported by: Anurag Roushan
Angela Merkel
Image Credits: AP | Image:self
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Ahead of Germany’s September 26 elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc kicked off its official campaign amid a worrying slump in its poll ratings. Armin Laschet, Merkel’s would-be successor and leader of her Christian Democratic Union party, vowed to fight the elections putting his best foot forward as he is running to succeed Merkel after her 16 years in office. Joining the poll campaign with Laschet in Berlin, the incumbent Chancellor appealed to voters to extend the party’s long run in the chancellery. Both the leaders addressed a relatively small crowd in the country's capital on Saturday because of coronavirus restrictions. 

Recent polls show worrying sign 

However, the recent polls have shown a worrying sign for the Union bloc with support of as low as 23%. This has left only a few points ahead of the centre-left Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens. Apart from this, the polls have also presented dismal personal popularity ratings for Laschet. His rival and Social Democratic leader, the vice-chancellor in Merkel’s coalition government, seems to have the upper hand. However, Laschet said he would fight with everything he has so that ideologues do not take over the country. 

"We have the opportunity to implement our ideas for this modern Germany. That is what we are fighting for. We will give everything we can, we will make the differences with the others clear. Who governs is fundamental. We want to govern." Laschet also questioned his left-wing rivals' foreign policy agendas and claimed that the Opposition's plan to increase the tax would strangle the economy even as it recovers from the pandemic. 

Laschet doesn't seem to inspire voters 

Laschet had emerged victorious from a battle in April with Markus Soeder, the head of the CDU's Bavarian sister party; however, the former refrained from commenting on the recent poll ratings. According to reports, Laschet is the face of Merkel’s party but doesn’t appear so far to have inspired voters or to with his management of the severe floods that hit his state, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous, last month. Hitting out at Laschet, Christian Social Union's Markus Soeder said that the Union faces its most challenging campaign since 1998 and a centre-right win next month is far from the reality.

(With inputs from agency)

Image Credits: AP

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Published August 21st, 2021 at 21:05 IST

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