New Delhi: German green political party Alliance-90/The Greens has chosen its co-leader Annalena Baerbock as its candidate for German chancellor in the upcoming elections, Robert Habeck, the party’s second co-leader.
Parliamentary elections are expected to be held in Germany in September, after which the winning party will appoint the federal chancellor to head the government and replace incumbent Angela Merkel.
“Today the moment has come to say that Annalena Baerbock will be the Greens’ first candidate for chancellor. Annalena Baerbock is a focused and strong-willed woman, has fighting spirit, exactly knows what she wants and who will passionately represent the green program in the elections. She will lead us through this campaign,” Habeck, who was a competitor to Baerbock, said during a press conference.
Ms Baerbock was born in 1980, the same year that the party was founded. Her parents took her on anti-nuclear demos. She describes her childhood as a mixture of water cannon at protests, and cake at home later – a mix of cosy middle-class radicalism that sums up the Green Party today, and explains its current mass appeal.
Baerbock says that with her candidacy she is making an “offer to the entire society.”
“Climate change is the task of our time, the task of my generation. And, accordingly, I want the policies of the new federal government to make climate protection the benchmark for all sectors.”
In turn, Baerbock and the Greens have benefited from people seeking tougher measures to curb coronavirus transmission. The Greens are also climbing in popularity with many younger Germans who are now able to vote, prioritizing climate change and the environment in their voting decisions.
She’s already being compared to young female leaders in New Zealand or Finland.
According to the current polls, the Greens is the second most popular party in the country after the ruling Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)/Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). Experts believe the Greens have a chance to form a coalition with either CDU/CSU or left-wing parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Die Linke.
