“Optional instead of popular”

The German Green Party is polling at its lowest nationwide level in 15 years and risks falling below the five-percent-threshold required to stay in parliament, Robert Rossmann writes in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. In several recent polls, the Greens’ popularity has dropped to six percent, in stark contrast to the 13 percent the party received a year ago or the 25-percent approval in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Rossmann says. “The Greens’ core topics aren't in the spotlight right now,” he says, adding that the party’s reluctance to take a position on what coalition they might seek in government is alienating potential voters. The Greens’ co-head Cem Özdemir did signal to their former partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), that there would be no new coalition without  acommitment to a coal exit, Rossmann writes.

For background, see the CLEW factsheets The Green Party’s draft election programme and The road to the next Energiewende government.