At last, German voters will get a proper choice in a national election

POST-WAR GERMAN elections have tended to be polite contests between middle-aged men and, more recently, a middle-aged woman, trotting out worthy but similar centrist policies. The process reached its snooziest last time around, in 2017, when the two main parties went into the campaign having spent the previous four years yoked together in a “grand coalition”. That gave them even less scope to offer competing visions to unenthused voters. This year, happily, things will be different.For a start, there is a genuine chance that the election, to be held on September 26th, will produce Germany’s (and almost the world’s) first Green head of government in the form of , a 40-year-old parliamentarian with no ministerial experience but plenty of energy, policy nous and a past as an accomplished trampolinist. In a smooth if opaque operation on April 19th, the Green Party anointed Ms Baerbock, rather than her co-leader, the more experienced but more academic Robert Habeck, as its candidate for chancellor. The party saw that she offered it the best chance in September.