Angela Merkel’s successor could be left, right or Green

IN AMERICANRWCDUCSUNRWTV presidential campaigns start soon after the mid-term elections and last nearly two arduous years. In Germany, in contrast, for most of this year it was hard to tell that one of the most important elections in post-war history will take place on September 26th. It was only in the first week of August that posters sprouted on lampposts across Berlin, featuring the three high-profile contenders for the chancellorship as well as obscure local politicians running for parliament. Political advertisements are at last running on television. The Social Democrats even broke a taboo this month by running a negative one, attacking the religious beliefs of a close aide of Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate who is the narrow front-runner to succeed Angela Merkel, who is retiring after 16 years as chancellor.Until inundated parts of North-Rhine Westphalia () and Rhineland-Palatinate in mid-July, conventional wisdom suggested a win for Mr Laschet, the candidate of the Christian Democratic Union () and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (). But Mr Laschet is also the state premier of , and his response to the floods has been inept. As launched its election-forecast model online on August 10th, the once soporific election campaign was becoming more interesting. The gaffe-prone Mr Laschet cancelled all campaign events last week and some appearances in September, ostensibly to focus on the aftermath of the flood disaster.