Reflections on Canada´s election and Germany´s political deflections

Well, the last entry seems to be ages ago. In the meantime, we celebrated the arrival of our first child and between diaper changes, bottle feedings and making lots of coffee there was little time to follow politics in Canada and Germany and even less to write about it.
A lot has happened on both sides of the ocean. Canada has called for an election. I was surprised how different and how institutional the procedures were when the opposition called a non-confidence vote. The first surprise was the fact that the vote was not confidential. The second one was that it was rather a noisy affair which made it almost too much fun to watch considering the fact that a government that has lost the confidence of the Parliament is really not a good thing. The reserved German in me wanted to jump up and yell Yeah and Nay in front of the TV.
The campaign has been a whole different affair on the fun side. To be honest this was the most passionless and boring campaign I have ever witnessed and as a Political Scientist I daresay that I have witnessed a few. Surely, the parties had only little time to prepare an agenda, however, the non-confidence vote and the resulting elections came nowhere out of the blue. And a party that has an agenda ready does not need much preparation time in case of a campaign. The other way around: if you cannot come up with some big picture for the future in a time of need, then maybe you are lacking the picture at all.
Stephen Harper and that Ignatieff guy look pretty much the same. I don´t mean their faces or their way to dress, but their whole habitus: the way they both speak and act and the political persona they try to represent. Does it surprise anybody that the majority of voters voted for Harper in that case? I would have voted for the one that I already know, he might be the lesser evil. Definetly the lesser risk. Some Germans were surprised by the majority situation for Harper, but this is based on our different political culture which prefers a coalition over a one-party-government.
Michael Ignatieff had one major problem during the campaign: his appearance. My better half found him not trustworthy, a friend called him a mean person. I think he appeared a little - let´s say slow. I am pretty sure that he is none of the above mentioned. But this is the worst thing that could happen to a politician: people don´t like him. The people. They find him unfit for the office. Hence the whipping that the Liberals received.
As a new immigrant to this country I don´t share the strong feelings that a lot of Canadians have for or against the Bloc Quebecoise. It was again the Political Scientist in me that was intrigued by the sheer fact how fast a party can be wiped out from the political scene. Obviously, their agenda was not contemporary anymore.

In Germany, this has happened to the Conservatives, at least in some of our provinces, the so-called Bundesländer. Germany has his first Green Premier, head over a green-red government, again a first. And this in a province that has been Conservative since the days of Adam and Eve. Truly conservative. Again, German voters have shown their unpredictability. And not many analysts have seen this coming which means for the future that no party or government has any guarantee at all. The voters will show their will at the election day and parties have to form coalitions according to that will. Is that not a truly democratic idea?

what else is knew? Germany lost his Defense Minister. Obviously many parts of his PhD thesis were rip-offs, his thesis a fraud. And he is not the only one. A lot of people were happy to see him go. He represented the German past: noble, male, impeccable and just a little bit to clean. Other loved him for exactly the same reasons and saw a future Chancellor in him.
Germany´s Minister of Foreign Affairs might be the next to step down from office. Like the Canadian Liberals the German counterpart has lost a huge share of voter confidence. Westerwelle, Minister of Foreign Affairs and chairman of the German Liberals might stumble over his own success and the disappointment of his own party.