Germany election: Angela Merkel highlights her govt's attainments to boost party's chances

In what is believed to be the German parliament's final session before the September 26 election, Chancellor Angela Merkel has painted an ideal picture of her government's achievements and slammed the prospect of a future left-wing rule, attempting to support her party's candidate. Merkel also clashed with her deputy, a rival party's candidate for the presidency and is now polling well.

Merkel's unusually partisan speech to MPs appeared to reflect growing worries about her party prospects. Merkel has mainly remained out of the campaign on the grounds. The Union has slipped to second place in recent surveys, with the centre-left Social Democrats taking the lead thanks to Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz's relative popularity as Germany's finance minister. They ranked the environmentalist Greens, whose co-leader Annalena Baerbock is running for chancellor for the first time.

They propose several different alliances that could form the government. As the Union's poll numbers have dwindled, leaders have been increasingly concerned that Scholz and the Greens will put the hard-left opposition Left Party into power, which opposes NATO and German military missions abroad. Scholz hasn't ruled it out completely, but it's evident that it's not his preferred option.

Merkel told parliamentarians that the upcoming election would be a trendsetting election for their country in these trying times. She claimed voters could choose between a government in which the Social Democrats and Greens "accept the Left Party's backing, at the very least don't rule it out or a German government headed by Armin Laschet as chancellor." She said, "Laschet's government will stand for stability, reliably and moderation, and that is exactly what Germany needs." Merkel outlined what she considers to be the highlights of her final term, including progress on climate change legislation.

Minor issues remain in many places

She also claimed that Germany has made significant progress in digitization and infrastructure, but she admitted that minor issues remain in many places. Critics argue that Germany has a lot more to accomplish. According to Annalena Baerbock, "we have a gigantic problem, that we don’t just lack internet in rural regions but in many, many areas of our country."

(Inputs from AP News)

Image Credit: AP