The Situation In Germany

[cassandra]

So I voted today. Guess what? They provided coloured pencils with which to fill out the ballots. I also heard from others that they were give normal pencils! Call me cynical, but that does seem a teeny bit suspicious.

 

[Tristan]

The first polls give victory to the CDU, but it would need to form alliances with the other parties.

According to Exit polls, the left have been destroyed in Germany.

As the Christian Union (CDU) failed to reach a majority, they should form an alliance with AfD! 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/YhxkefDWo3

— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) February 23, 2025

🚨🇩🇪 BREAKING: The first projections of the German elections are in!

It’s exactly as expected. The conservative CDU as the strongest party will most likely form a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) or the eco-fascists (Die Grünen)—because in Germany, elections don’t… pic.twitter.com/JYZaFtxoot

— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) February 23, 2025

 

[axj]

It is not only suspicious that the AfD supposedly got less than many polls showed, but also that the "Linke" (copy of the Greens, which Wagenknecht left) got a surprising major boost, while Wagenknecht's BSW may stay below the 5% needed to be in parliament.

If it stays that way, I would say it is a strong sign that Wagenknecht and BSW are not just controlled opposition.

 

[msasa79]

If it stays that way, I would say it is a strong sign that Wagenknecht and BSW are not just controlled opposition.

Why do you think so?
Just because they might not reach the threshold for entering the parliament on this elections does not mean they were not put on the "market" to take away popular support from AfD. It just means they were not very successful about it, as people maybe saw through their game. FWIW.

Has the info about the overall turnout been released yet?

 

[luc]

OK, so my baseless speculation is that there was some rigging involved, and that the AfD really would have got around 25-30% and possibly would have become the strongest party, slightly ahead of the CDU. Then again, Germans really are extremely brainwashed, so who knows if that was even necessary.

Has the info about the overall turnout been released yet?

84% according to polling service infratest, which is very high.

 

[luc]

Why do you think so?
Just because they might not reach the threshold for entering the parliament on this elections does not mean they were not put on the "market" to take away popular support from AfD. It just means they were not very successful about it, as people maybe saw through their game. FWIW.

Has the info about the overall turnout been released yet?

I don't think the BSW are "controlled opposition" as it's usually understood. It's an organic reaction by the "sane left" to the wokeification and war-mongering pro-Ukrainianism of Die Linke and the SPD. However, this has the EFFECT of weakening the AfD, beacuse even the BSW left still operates in the "AfD=Nazis" narrative framework, while getting votes by people who seek to avoid voting AfD for this very reason although they agree with most of the AfD's platform, except perhaps the business-friendly aspects of it.

 

[axj]

Just because they might not reach the threshold for entering the parliament on this elections does not mean they were not put on the "market" to take away popular support from AfD. It just means they were not very successful about it, as people maybe saw through their game. FWIW.

That is possible too, but as I said the suspicious thing is the sudden major rise of "Die Linke" (Wagenknecht's former party) which probably got these percentages mostly from the BSW - if all these polls and election results are to be believed.

You can see it here:

The pink one (LInke) suddenly rises above the dark red (BSW) only in the last week or two.

 

[Gawan]

OK, so my baseless speculation is that there was some rigging involved, and that the AfD really would have got around 25-30% and possibly would have become the strongest party, slightly ahead of the CDU. Then again, Germans really are extremely brainwashed, so who knows if that was even necessary.

Considering the brainwashing program of the "firewall" of all main stream media in the last few months, I think both play into here imo.

 

[Cosmos]

OK, so my baseless speculation is that there was some rigging involved, and that the AfD really would have got around 25-30% and possibly would have become the strongest party, slightly ahead of the CDU. Then again, Germans really are extremely brainwashed, so who knows if that was even necessary.

I would also tend towards the amount of rigging you are proposing, while also agreeing on the extreme degree of brainwashed people, which makes this quite a bit harder to guess. What I find quite a bit hard to believe is the relatively low count for BSW, and yes, the quite sudden explosion of the numbers for “Linke“.

My bet is on some kind of rigging, but just so much that the current monsters in the government can continue just as before.

 

[Cosmos]

What I found suspicious and untrustworthy was the first “prognosis“ that was but out very shortly before, or exactly at 18:00.

The ballot’s are put out of their containers at 18:00 (not one second earlier then that), and then the counting of the actual votes starts.

That first prognosis was based on quote “representative“ questioning of people at around 500 voting places. And that “result“ then showed pretty much exactly what the real first countings of the ballots seems to show quite a bit later. Somebody voting for AfD is unlikely to say that out loud (and similarly, but less so, for BSW).

Sorry, I find that a bit hard to believe.

 

[Learner]

I went voting today as well. The election office was pretty packed with people (around the time 10:30 AM). Inside the polling booth ballpoint pens had been deposited (tied to a cord), but I brought my own writing device with me to put my votes.

Following Telegram posts, I noticed the issue that cassandra mentioned as well - depositing pencils instead of ballpoint pens in several election districts; thus voters were called to bring their own ballpens and photograph the ballot paper after putting their votes for the purpose of documentation (side note: the election office I attended prohibited any filming or the taking of photos inside the polling booth).

My election district (center of a city in Eastern Germany) is pretty much interspersed by people voting for the SPD (Social Democratic Party), The Green Party and The Left Party - at least that's been the case in the past. Let's see how they might have voted today, though it may not be much different here (if you discount possible rigging).

As for overall voter participation, it is being estimated that participation in the election has reached a historical heigh since decades - by about 84 %, according to the German newspaper "Die Zeit".

Regarding to rigging, I think that there might have been quite a substantial amount of this going on - given that many ideologically motivated people may have volunteered as election workers. But the brainwashing of the people must have been a pretty large factor as well - I know of someone in my environment who pondered to give their vote to the AfD but in the end found a "reason" to not doing that (by watching one of those recent talk shows which framed Alice Weidel in a bad way). And then they voted for one of those parties that put us in our current mess in the first place - taking the emotionally comfortable choice, I assume.

It is understandable, given what a colleague of mine told me: She was going to vote for the AfD but felt like a traitor inside. However, she didn't plan to let that feeling dissuade her from her choice.

 

[Mari]

What I found suspicious and untrustworthy was the first “prognosis“ that was but out very shortly before, or exactly at 18:00.

Yes, I found that weird as well. Not even half an hour after 18h - they already had "results".

According to the Tagesshau, here is what was actualy counted so far (at 21h):
Adding source: Bundestagswahl im Liveticker: ++ Wie wurde in meiner Region gewählt? ++

 

[Cosmos]

When I voted nobody wanted to see my ID even though I put it out and was ready to show it. Further it seemed to me that at least 1 or 2 from the (3 or so) present counting staff had east European backgrounds (Ukrainian?). But that’s just a rough guess that could be wrong.

 

[axj]

According to ARD, the BSW has 4.9% while the ZDF says they have 5.0% (enough to be in parliament). I think the BSW being in or out also decides whether the CDU and SPD together will have a slight majority or not. With the BSW in parliament, they won't - meaning a three-party coalition and very unstable government.

 

[Learner]

It looks like this election could possibly be contested, due to many German nationals living abroad who didn't receive their election documents for mail voting in time. The blurb of a mainstream clip on Youtube (from two days ago) which covers this issue reads (translation by Deepl):

Germans abroad complain about late ballot papers | BR24

Some postal voters are in a tizzy right now - especially those in faraway countries: they have not yet received their ballot letter. One diplomat landed in Munich today - with 80 ballot papers from India in his luggage. But others were less fortunate.

I watched other videos about this issue earlier. It was maintained there that many of the Germans living abroad emigrated for those reasons the AfD promises to help rectifying (mainly the German economy going down, wokeness, mass immigration), meaning those expats (with emigration having increased especially during the last 5 years) might largely be AfD voters. Can't find anymore where this has been said specifically, but I'd think it is pretty evident.