Berlin – Slowly one had already asked oneself whether the federal celebrities wanted to skip their own election party. But then a whistle can be heard and heads rise in the hall. Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, the green top candidates, suddenly stand there in the middle of the stage and let themselves be celebrated.
It took some time. First, the federal board of the Berlin top candidate Bettina Jarasch had given the stage. Obviously Habeck and Baerbock wanted to wait for the projections and not rely on initial forecasts. But real clarity is not to be had so quickly on this evening of the head-to-head race in Berlin as well as in the federal government.
And so they finally stand there on the stage and initially spread a pleasant feeling. “Great”, Annalena Baerbock calls out to the crowd of applauding people. Great the Berlin election result and great what the campaigners gathered in the Columbiahalle would have achieved in the past few weeks. And it was worth it in the Bund, too, calls Baerbock and tries to drown out the applause. The country has shown a longing for political debate that she did not expect.
However, it does not stop at the sheer joy of “the historically best result” (Baerbock quote). Even if the first empty Cremant bottles are already on the tables in the hall. “But we can’t just cheer tonight. We came for the first time to shape this country as a leading force. We wanted more, ”says Baerbock. It wasn’t enough for that. Also because of her own mistakes, as she says. But despite everything – she sees a new beginning and an order for the future.
The ups and downs of this election campaign was remarkable. Polls in the days immediately before the election saw the Greens at around 16 percent. That was a little less than at the start of this election campaign at the beginning of the year. And at times the Greens could justifiably hope for a much better performance. In April they were even 28 percent for a short time – in front of all parties, including the Union. Some saw Annalena Baerbock already in the Chancellery.
But then the election campaign developed its own dynamic. The reliance on Baerbock, behind whom the party’s program disappeared, took revenge. With every mistake the candidate made, it got worse. The candidate staggered, showing uncertainty. That only changed again in the weeks leading up to the election. It now seemed resolute and secure in terms of content. In every talk show, she assaulted her competitors, pointing out contradictions and gaps in their election manifestos.
But anyone who waited for the first signs of a rift between Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck on election evening is waiting in vain. Robert Habeck attests to the chancellor candidate’s downright inhuman strength on stage: “A fighter with a lion heart.” There is so much love on stage during these minutes that you can see lots of happy faces downstairs in the hall. “We will take this job with us over the next few weeks. We stand together. We lead together and then we try to form such a strong climate protection government that Germany has never had, ”says Habeck.
Outside the door he later gives interviews, and it becomes clearer what he meant up on stage. The next government must do something and provide answers to the pressing questions of the time, he says. The main thing now is the constellation in which this is possible. “There is a proximity to the SPD,” says Habeck of the Greens, but a traffic light coalition is not red-green.
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