Election chaos looms!

Germans don’t have enough paper for new elections

Concerns on the part of Federal Election Commissioner Ruth Brand could prevent new elections in Germany in the near future.

(Bild: AP)

After the end of its traffic light coalition, Germany is discussing a possible new election date. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is thinking of March, CDU leader Friedrich Merz wants to call for a ballot as early as January. Federal Election Commissioner Ruth Brand is not enthusiastic about either proposal - due to a lack of paperwork! 

She believes that the Germans simply do not have the paper for enough ballot papers for hasty new elections. In the "Tagesschau", Brand complained that it is a "great challenge these days to actually procure the paper and carry out the printing jobs".

Citizens want to donate paper
The mockery of Germany's inability to organize new elections - France last managed to do so within three months - was not long in coming on social media.

Many users came forward to donate a piece of paper. Others explained in "Sendung mit der Maus" style what Ruth had said. "This is Ruth. Ruth is the Federal Election Commissioner. When elections are due, Ruth gets ballot papers so that people can vote. Now Ruth says she can't get any paper so quickly when there are early elections. Ruth is an electoral officer in Germany, not in Haiti."

Maybe Austria will help out?
The liberal Austrian politician Norbert Hofer joked that "Austria could help out with non-adhesive envelopes from 2016". Faulty voting cards were in circulation in Austria during the 2016 presidential election. Back then, the two sheets of paper glued together to form an envelope had become detached from each other over large parts of the designated gluing zone.

Even former toilet paper preppers could now be helpful and reduce their supply a little, according to memes.

 "Scandalous and shameful"
Brand has also incurred the wrath of CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann. He railed in the newspaper "Bild": "The statements made by the Federal Election Commissioner are scandalous and shameful and are a reflection of what is going on in Germany."

What the election supervisor is saying is unacceptable. Linnemann: "A country like Germany must be able to hold elections within 60 days."

In any case, a battle plan is to be drawn up on Monday when the federal and state electoral officers meet. According to surveys, a clear majority of Germans are in favor of quick elections: In the ZDF "Politbarometer", 54 percent wanted an earlier date; 30 percent, like Scholz, are in favor of a new election in March