Candidate and party profiles
September 22, 2009Advertisement
Germany heads to the polls on September 27. The country's two largest parties - the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) - are currently locked in a grand coalition. And both have said they don't want to continue this uneasy union. Failing a large enough majority to rule alone, they'd each rather pick a smaller party to govern with. For Chancellor Merkel's CDU the partner-of-choice is the pro-business FDP, while Frank-Walter Steinmeier's SPD would pick the Greens for their electoral pas-de-deux. But what about the far-left Left party, poised to become a vocal opposition to whoever will make it to the chancellery?