Once again, two crosses must be made
With sepp herberger, the legendary coach of the 1954 soccer world champions, one would say: after the election is before the election. After the burghers voted last sunday on the composition of the bavarian state parliament and the district parliament of lower franconia, they were allowed to vote on the 22nd sunday. September decide who will represent the region in the bundestag. After five ballots on 15. September (two for the state parliament elections, two for the district parliament elections and one for five referendums) there will be only one ballot next sunday.
Three counties
With the ballot paper for the federal election, the voters determine who represents the electoral district (first vote) and which party gets how many mandates (second vote). In electoral district 248 of bad kissingen, eight first-past-the-post candidates are competing for the direct mandate (see text below), while 20 parties or electoral groups are vying for entry into the bundestag by second vote.
The electoral district of bad kissingen is made up of the three counties of bad kissingen, rhon-grabfeld and habberge. It is one of 45 electoral districts in bavaria and still had 218 votes in the 2009 federal election.547 eligible voters. How many there are this year, stefan seufert, spokesman for the district office of bad kissingen cannot say. In any case, last sunday there were 84 in the district of bad kissingen.062 eligible voters, in the federal election there could be a little more, because all those who have moved from other federal states in the past three months were allowed to vote in the bundestag, but not in the state parliament.
There are 299 constituencies throughout germany. This means that 299 members of the bundestag will be directly elected. The 299 winners in the constituencies enter the parliament in berlin. Another 299 deputies are elected from the lists of parties and electoral groups. A total of 598 members of the bundestag plus possible overhang mandates.
Head office in bad kissingen
The threads of the federal election come together next sunday at the district administration office in bad kissingen. This is where the reports from the 572 voting districts (the area of a polling station) in the three counties are received on election night. "For the coming sunday, 14 employees have been assigned", reports seufert. That's exactly the same number as a week earlier. The constituency electoral officer is manfred gerlach, and he and his team will be responsible for 7 of the candidates.30 o'clock sure that the election workers on the spot legal questions can clear that in the evening the quick reports are collected and passed on to the state election officer.
On sunday in the district administration office also house service, telephone switching, EDP evaluation and the information of the media are secured. But: "the main burden is borne by the voluntary election workers", praises seufert above all for the work done at the polling stations. Even though the payout on sunday was allowed to go much faster than a week earlier, when the election workers were still paying out referendums and the district parliament well into the night.
Who will represent the district of bad kissingen in berlin in the future?? Who gets the direct mandate? The clear favorite is CSU politician dorothee bar from ebelsbach. The 35-year-old has held a seat in parliament since 2002. At that time, she was unexpectedly appointed to the bundestag via the list (eduard lintner from munich was elected directly). At that time, bar benefited from the outstanding results achieved by the CSU in bavaria with its top candidate and federal chancellor candidate edmund stoiber.
2005 it was a close call for bar. In the election, again via the list, it was not enough at first. But because edmund stoiber and gunther beckstein, who were on the list before the ebelsbacher woman, gave up their seats, the 35-year-old got her chance – and stayed in berlin.
Winning hands down
In the 2009 election, dorothee bar ran for the first time as a first-past-the-post candidate. She succeeded eduard lintner, who withdrew from the bundestag. Bar won the direct mandate by a landslide. The young woman from ebelsbach also beat susanne kastner (SPD) from maroldsweisach, who has been a member of the bundestag since 1989 but is leaving parliament this year.
The long-serving bundestag vice president sees sabine dittmar, a doctor from mabbach who is currently still a member of the bavarian state parliament, as her successor. She hardly has a chance against cash, but sabine dittmar was allowed to enter the bundestag via the state list of the SPD: the doctor, who is considered a proven health expert, is in twelfth place among the social democrats in bavaria. So far, the bavarian SPD has 16 members in the bundestag. The twelfth rank had to be enough for dittmar – if there are no landslide shifts next sunday.
Grunes need to step up
Hans-josef fell from hammelburg, a member of the green party, will have to fight for his seat. Fell has been a member of the bundestag since 1998 and, like dittmar, had no chance of winning the first vote (direct mandate). Whether it is enough over the national list of its party, is questionable. Fell, former high school teacher, is ranked twelfth in his party. So far, the greens from bavaria have ten deputies in berlin. So if the election goes the way it did four years ago, fur would be falling out.
It will be difficult or impossible for the remaining five direct candidates from the electoral district. In addition to bar, dittmar and fell, the following are running: doctor erhard stubenrauch from hofheim (FDP), toolmaker stefan bannert from munnerstadt (left-wing), retail salesman benjamin wildenauer from bad bruckenau (pirates), carpenter and pensioner horst fuchs from burgpreppach (NPD) and artist christine wehe from bad konigshofen (freie wahler). The free voters are on the ballot for the first time in a federal election.