German candidates fight to woo moderate voters

THE MOODSPDSPDCDUSPD among her comrades is “euphoric”, says Sonja Hergarten, a volunteer for Germany’s Social Democratic Party () at a campaign stand in Munich’s university district. At the last election, in 2017, she had the unenviable task of persuading Germans to vote for Martin Schulz, a little-known politician who had returned from a career in Brussels to lead the ’s campaign. This time the candidate is , a familiar face to most Germans as the finance minister and vice-chancellor, and a much easier sell. As if to prove the point, a grinning passer-by exclaims “!” (“Good luck, good luck, good luck!”).A few hours later Mr Scholz himself arrives in town. Speaking below the impressive façade of Munich’s neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus (town hall)he presents a list of modest social-democratic priorities, including affordable housing (an important local issue), pension security and the preservation of jobs during Germany’s climate transition. Then comes his leitmotif: “respect” for the labour of “the craftsman or the logistics worker”, which implies lifting the minimum hourly wage to €12 ($14), a signature policy. Mr Scholz hammers the governing Christian Democrats (), the senior partner in the “grand” coalition with his , for pushing tax cuts when the state has incurred €400bn in pandemic debt. Afterwards, Mr Scholz receives the adoration of autograph-hunting fans with the reserve customary to his home town of Hamburg. His famous Smurf-like grin turns rictus after the seventh selfie.