Elections in Hesse: The long shadow of Berlin politics

2023-10-08 16:12:58, Kosova & Bota CNA

A wasp comes around Tarek Al-Wazir and looks like it's going to sting him. The Green Minister of Economy and Transport has appeared before the citizens in Frankfurt am Main and explains what his party in coalition with the CDU has achieved concretely since 2014. Al Wazir tries to ignore the wasp. After listing typical topics for the Greens, such as urban transport and climate protection, the 52-year-old talks about the economy. In Hesse, despite a German trend, there has been economic growth, he emphasizes. The green politician has chosen a pun for himself; "Eco. (remember ecology, ed.) As in Economics."

Tarek Al-Wazir speaking to voters

People from 90 nations work at Frankfurt Airport

With 0.4%, the economic growth of Hesse is marginal, but in principle it must be said that Hesse ranks high in the economic volume of the 16 states. The economic engine of the land is the metropolitan region of Frankfurt with Germany's largest airport. About 81,000 people from 90 nations work there. Hesse has 17% of foreign residents, but there are big differences between cities and rural areas. In Frankfurt, 29% of residents have a foreign passport, in Offenbach, this figure reaches 37%.

Election campaign with posters in Hesse

"In case Muslims take power"

Tarek Al-Wazir was born in Offenbah to a German and a Yemeni. With his Arabic name, he has faced racism and discrimination in his political career. Even from the CDU. In the late 90s, a CDU member of parliament told him to put in a good word "in case the Muslims take over". But the relationship with the CDU is currently good. We work together without problems, says the green politician who is also the deputy prime minister of the country. He is proud that among the citizens he is even more popular than CDU Prime Minister Boris Rhein. But the Greens as a party have not benefited from the sympathy for him.

Berlin: 500 kilometers away and so close

There is disappointment not only with the Greens, but also the SPD and FDP throughout Germany. In the federal coalition, the three parties govern together. But whether it was about climate protection, the law on heating systems, asylum and refugee policies, the fight was inevitable within the three-party coalition. Not every second German is satisfied with the work of the government in Berlin.

Election posters in Hesse

This casts a shadow over the election campaign in Hesse. For every second voter, federal politics plays a bigger role in voting than state politics, according to a survey by the opinion institute, infratest-dimap. According to these polls in the Hessen state elections, the CDU can count with 30% of the votes. The SPD, which has entered the competition with the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, remains below 18%. The Greens have suffered a significant decline and are at the same level as the AfD, 17%. The liberal FDP party barely manages to reach the 5% limit to enter the parliament, while the Left party seems not to cross this limit.

Anger at coalition fights

The wasp continues to circle around Tarek Al-Wazir. Carefully the green politician tries to push him away and finally succeeds. "The black-yellow combination is inherently a danger," the green politician ironically points out, possibly referring to a coalition between the CDU (black) and the FDP (yellow symbol). But he cannot save the difficult situation of his ecological party, although he points out from time to time that mistakes are being made in the Berlin coalition, which also includes the Greens. "Governing properly for me means arguing with coalition partners and looking for solutions." Differences in political attitudes should not be manifested as on stage. "In Hesse, you have never experienced such a circus with me," emphasizes Al-Wazir.

Interior Minister and SPD candidate for the state Nancy Faeser and Chancellor Scholz at an election rally in Baunatal

The politician of the SPD, Nancy Faeser, a member of the cabinet in Berlin as Minister of Internal Affairs, defends this alliance and sees the red, green, yellow coalition - SPD, Greens, FDP - as possible for Hesse. This is quite welcome from the CDU, which counterattacks the competition with the slogans "No traffic lights for Hesse" and "Course instead of chaos". Even in the SPD they are asking if the arrival of Faeser as a candidate for this party was the right solution. The Minister of the Interior has said that she would only go to Hesse in case of victory. But because of the migration crisis, she is quite engaged in Germany. And the CDU calls Faeser a "security risk for Germany and Hesse". It is heard from this party that Faeser ignores his work as a minister in favor of the election campaign.

The Minister of the Interior responded. CDU state premier Boris Rhein does not distance himself enough from right-wing forces, Faeser accused in an election meeting with Chancellor Scholz in Baunatal. "Hessen has a problem with right-wing extremism", Faeser said in 2022. Indeed, Constitutional Protection has found an increase in right-wing extremist violence. The attack in Hanau in 2020, where eight men and one woman were killed, is just one serious athena in a series of crimes with a right-wing extremist background.

Boris Rhein, CDU will create the image of the politician close to the people and balanced

Boris Rhein climbs the carousel

The more the Social Democrats and the Greens fall in the polls, the more the atmosphere in the CDU improves. In the spring of 2022, Boris Rhein took over the post of Prime Minister from predecessor Volker Bouffier, who withdrew for health reasons. Rhein is considered conservative but also communicative and balancing. His biggest problem is that he is not that well known. Even in the election campaign, people pass by him without stopping for even a second. But this does not scare Rhein. The 51-year-old continues his tour around the country, to create the image of a politician close to the people and balanced. Rhein climbs the carousel at folk festivals, takes selfies with young people and talks to bookstores about which novels are currently being read.

In addition to topics important for the state, such as the reduction of the land tax or the establishment of "an electronic handcuff for those who beat women", the CDU politician also deals with important topics for the federation. In migration policy, he calls for more controls and protection of internal borders, deportation offensives for rejected asylum seekers and the expansion of countries of origin declared safe to include Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and India. Rhein does not say which coalition partner he will prefer after the elections. "Yes, we have worked well and willingly with the Greens, but I also have good contacts with the social democracy of Hesse." He categorically excludes cooperation with AfD in his country./ DW