Kanzlerin Angela Merkel

Yesterday was Wahltag (Election Day) in Germany. Yes, it was a Sunday. Yes, that might seem crazy to the Americans, but everyone else seems to think we Americans are crazy for Tuesday elections. Sundays actually make a lot more sense to me -- I think it's just American football that would throw a wrench into that idea.

Germany's dear Angie has been re-elected. Polls were open until 18:00 last night, but well before then exit polls were leaning to her big victory.

I had hopes of really being able to compare the German elections to the American ones, but I'm not the biggest political expert and the timing of my vacation didn't really allow me to pay as much attention as I could have.

I am also not going to pretend I know German politics well enough to explain it to you. This is what I can tell you:

There are many parties and when you go to vote, you just vote for two parties. Yep. Two tick boxes and you're done. It's all or nothing.

image source

It was a historic turnout as the FDP was not voted into Parliament for the first time* (*in a really long time? Ever?).

I walked with my German to his voting location, a school, and I waited outside while he did his duty. It lasted about three-minutes. My follow-up question was, "Did you vote on an electronic machine or by hand?" The answer with a you're-crazy-look: "By hand, of course." I didn't ask how he voted.

If I could have voted, I think I would have gone with Angie as well. A lot of what I read basically said that people trust her and they know if a hard decision has to be made, she will do it. This seems true. However, if Wikipedia can be believed, she doesn't like dogs. This does not change my opinion of her.