German Elections: A Special Focus

With the elections only days away and major media all reporting on the event, it is not the intention of this website to speculate and predict the outcome of the results. Most readers following the issue would already be aware that the Christian Democrats with Angela Merkel as their leader is set to win the elections despite the Social Democrats gaining back some ground in the final week leading up to the elections.

However, the challenge begins once the government is in office, in terms of how it will tackle the combination of rising welfare costs, escalating unemployment, a stagnant economic growth, an aging population coupled with a declining birth rate. The buzzword for the Christian Democrats to address these concerns is reform. Once gaining majority in the Bundestag (Lower House), combined with its current control over the Bundesrat (Upper House), the CDU will be in a better position than its predecessor to push through its initiatives and reforms. Editor Jyoti Sachavirawong touches on this key advantage of the CDU as government in her article. Much of course remains on the political will of Angela Merkel and her party.

One of the most debated issues currently revolves around the Flat tax system. FNF’s Malaysia Project Director Rainer Heufers discusses the advantages of the system, with its proven success on improving the economy in Eastern Europe, particularly the case of Slovakia, both via domestic demand and foreign investment.

In order to help our readers understand the outcome of the polling process on Sunday September 18th, our Project Manager for Economic Freedom Patrick Lohlein, himself a German voter, together with the Project Director gives us an overview of the German political and electoral systems, with its various political parties and the laws governing the functioning of the parties in four separate power point presentations.

Finally, it would be amiss of us not to draw attention to the Liberal Democrats (FDP), with whom we are closely affiliated. The article on the FDP presents to the reader the political platform of the party for the upcoming elections.

For more information on these topics please go to our special focus section.

[ Back ]