German Election Debate/Election Preview

By Steve Bynum, Jerome McDonnell
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, of the Christian Democratic party, and her challenger Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic party attend the only TV debate three weeks before the German parliament elections in a TV studio in Berlin Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, of the Christian Democratic party, and her challenger Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic party attend the only TV debate three weeks before the German parliament elections in a TV studio in Berlin Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017. RTL via AP
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, of the Christian Democratic party, and her challenger Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic party attend the only TV debate three weeks before the German parliament elections in a TV studio in Berlin Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, of the Christian Democratic party, and her challenger Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic party attend the only TV debate three weeks before the German parliament elections in a TV studio in Berlin Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017. RTL via AP

German Election Debate/Election Preview

By Steve Bynum, Jerome McDonnell
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Live, televised election debates as big events started in 1960, between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. But in Canada and Western Europe, debates as spectacle are relatively new.

German federal elections are on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. Angela Merkel wants to add four more years to her already 12 years as Germany’s Chancellor. The one and only such debate of the campaign featured Merkel and Martin Schulz, leader of the country’s center-left Social Democratic Party. The two responded to the moderator on big issues like refugees and the economy. Rather than attack each other, the candidates mildly went after President Donald Trump on issues like climate change and the racist-fueled violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Merkel is expected to win re-election. We’ll talk about the debate and German politics with Kevin Coogan, founder of ZettaCap, a company that analyzes social media and online data to make forecasts on economic, financial, and political events.