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GREENS

‘Germans are in the mood for change’: Greens take lead in new polls

Germany's Greens are continuing their upward trajectory, with the ecologist party overtaking Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in a new opinion poll just five months before a general election.

'Germans are in the mood for change': Greens take lead in new polls
Baerbock speaking in Potsdam on April 17th. Photo: DPA

The centre-left opposition party rose to 28 percent in a poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, gaining six percentage points on the previous week to record its best-ever score in the regular survey carried out by the Kantar institute.

Merkel’s centre-right CDU/CSU alliance lost two points, coming in second at 27 percent support.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel’s junior coalition partners, fell to their worst score since August 2019 with 13 percent.

The Greens’ surge in popularity comes after the party on Monday tapped co-chair Annalena Baerbock, 40, to become its first-ever chancellor candidate.

READ ALSO: Greens become ‘most popular political party’ in Germany

The nomination of mum-of-two Baerbock, seen as a centrist who advocates a greener economy and a tougher foreign policy stance on Russia and China, has been widely cheered.

She will also be the only woman in the race to succeed Merkel, who is bowing out after 16 years.

“Germans are in the mood for change,” Bild wrote.

Another opinion poll last Tuesday for broadcasters RTL and NTV was the first to put the Greens in the lead, also giving them 28 percent support.

Merkel’s ruling conservatives have slumped in recent polls as voters punish them for perceived mistakes in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, corruption scandals and party infighting.

Her bloc unveiled CDU leader and North Rhine-Westphalia state premier Armin Laschet as its chancellor candidate last week, following a bitter power struggle with CSU leader Markus Söder.

But Laschet, billed as the continuity candidate, remains deeply unpopular among Germans.

READ ALSO: Meet Armin Laschet, the king of comebacks grasping for Merkel’s throne

Observers say there is a realistic chance the CDU/CSU will not re-emerge as Germany’s biggest political force after the September 26th vote.

Bavarian premier Söder, who backed down in the fight for the chancellor candidacy despite strong grassroots support and higher approval ratings than Laschet, said at the weekend he was “not convinced” by Laschet’s candidacy.

The CDU/CSU bloc “needs a fresh start”, he told the Süddeutsche newspaper.

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POLITICS

Joint leader of Sweden’s Green Party announces resignation

Märta Stenevi, the embattled leader of Sweden's Green Party, has said she is resigning to focus on her mental health, her children and her partner.

Joint leader of Sweden's Green Party announces resignation

The decision comes less than three weeks after Stenevi took an indefinite period of sick leave, saying that she needed time to recover after a bruising period that saw the party launch an internal investigation into complaints about her management style.

There has also been extensive press coverage over the alleged conflict she has with Daniel Hellden, the man chosen as the party’s other leader at a conference in November. 

“This is a very difficult decision,” Stenevi told the Aftonbladet newspaper. “I put myself forward for reelection and received a renewed mandate from the congress, but I don’t believe I can be my best self right now and I don’t really know how long it will take to get back on my feet.”

“The party deserves better than to be in some kind of limbo, where one of the spokespeople [as the party calls its leaders] cannot fully carry out the role. And I need to focus on getting better again, being a good mum and a pleasant partner.”  

Writing on Instagram, Stenevi’s joint leader Daniel Helldén said that he was sorry to see Stenevi go. 

“I have respect for her decision, but personally I think it’s a real shame. I have very much enjoyed working together with Märtha,” he said. 

Stenevi said that the leaks to the media about complaints about her management style in the autumn had been difficult for her to handle. 

“It put me under enormous pressure. It wasn’t the media attention: I understand that you are going to be continually criticised and investigated, but what happened in the autumn was that there was a lot of anonymous briefing, so you didn’t know who you could trust or where it was coming from, and that made it much more difficult and much more draining.” 

When Stenevi went on sick leave last month, the party’s secretary, Katrin Wissing, told TT that her relationship with Daniel Helldén had not played a role in her departure.

“On the contrary, Daniel has been giving Märta extremely good support,” she said. 

Although Stenevi is resigning as party leader, she intends to remain in parliament is an MP, and has not decided to give up her career in politics. 

“When I’m back on track, I’ll see what happens, but I don’t feel completely finished with politics,” she said. “But this is the right decision, both for me, my family and my party.” 

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