angela merkel remains germany's chancellor, defeating candidates from over 12 other parties in the election!
UPDATE: i should state that 70% is a *low* turnout for germany, even though it is high compared to many voting countries, including the US where last year's presidential election saw a 57% voter turnout. (thanks sabrina!)
7 comments:
It´s funny how she puts her hands always the same way.
Actually, you said that 70% is a high percentage of voters. I can not agree with that. Because, I from Germany, I voted too and this is the worst percentage we´ve ever got in our existence. A lot of people didn´t voted and thats a shame because it was a very important poll. And the result speak for itself.
youre right, sabrina, i should have specified. while 70% is a low turnout for german elections, it is very high compared to the average voter turnout in the US and many other voting countries.
actually, i just looked up the results from the US presidential election last year (2008) and it appears the turnout was about 57%. thats a lot higher than i thought it was, but still much lower than it *should* be!
As sabrina already mentoned, this is a low turnout for germany. Although in my polling station we had somehow around 75% voters there. Now we have to sit back to see how the conservative-liberal coalition will work. Its a great pity for our old minister of foreign affairs, Steinmeier.
Those pictures remind me of the video making the rounds of Obama posing for photo ops. The consistency of his positioning and smile is eerie.
I thought to jump in with a comment about the voter turnout.
It is amazing that 70% is considered low and that you can have voters express disappointment in the lack of participation, when as you said of the US, the 57% that showed up in the last election cycle is considered high.
Here in Detroit, everyone got up and was out there in the dark of the morning ... but I went by the polling place in the early afternoon and it was a ghost town.
As the one comment indicated, you wonder why it is that way when you are putting so much on the line, you would let another person's vote determine the direction of your municipality or country.
For all the crying in the US about individual rights, you'd think that more people would find a way to vote. By making it a national holiday, you would ramp up participation and by encouraging early voting, you would get more people who had to work involved.
I am going to go back to my usual appreciation of whimsy and science in silence ... carry on!
L&R
Mark
And she's physicist. Go Dr. Merkel!
No heroine president will be elected by US in our lifetime. US is stone age conservative regarding gender roles.
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