Germany split over authority before polls

German politics could be heading into unfamiliar territory after national elections take place in just seven weeks on Sept 26, as the current coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, and the Green Party have seen its position of authority undermined, in the aftermath of the recent devastating floods.

Voters do not choose the head of government directly in Germany, with the top candidate of the best performing party in the election usually becoming the leader.

Merkel has been the chancellor since 2005 and announced earlier that she would not seek another term. It means the guiding hand that steered the country through the trauma of the economic crisis and coronavirus pandemic will no longer be on the tiller after September.

The CDU has presented Armin Laschet as Merkel's natural successor, but he came in for heavy criticism for his behavior on his recent visit to the flood-damaged west of the country, where he was caught on camera laughing and joking, provoking an angry public backlash.

Over the weekend, German newspaper Bild reported that in an opinion poll, just 24 percent of people asked were satisfied with his performance, 13 points down on the figure of less than a month earlier, with many people feeling that despite having his own strengths, he is not the man to replace Merkel at this time, as the CDU's poll rating has fallen from 29 percent to 26 percent.

"Maybe it is just the wrong time for Armin Laschet", wrote Der Spiegel. "He's a good moderator who can make conflicts go away. But at the moment the country needs a doer who can solve multiple crises."

Three-way coalition

The Green Party currently holds 67 seats in the 709-member parliament, known as the Bundestag, and mindful of how Laschet was negatively affected by his visit to the site of the floods, Green Party leadership contender Annalena Baerbock consciously avoided publicity when she went there, but the party is still not polling well.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party, or SDP, is one individual who is scoring well, suggesting that his party could force its way to the forefront, and closer to power.

With numerous polls showing that the CDU and Green coalition is proving less popular with the German electorate, a three-way coalition government is now looking like an increasingly likely outcome, although this could prove problematic.

The last time such an arrangement was attempted was in 2017, when after two months a three-party coalition of the CDU, Greens and the Bundestag's fourth-largest party, the Free Democrats, fell apart.