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9/21/13

Germany: Outside experts weigh in on German elections

Mazen Hassan, a political scientist at the University of Cairo, is surprised not by the number of election posters currently hanging on street lamps and buildings all over Germany, but by their content. "They aren't as aggressive as I expected them to be," he said.

His Greek colleague, Vasiliki Georgiadou from the University of Panteion in Athens, said she was struck by an election poster from the Left Party with the slogan: "100 percent social". "There are hardly any negative campaigns in the German election," she said.

"The bigger the parties, the larger and more colorful the election posters," said their Chinese colleague, Chunrong Zheng, from Shanghai Tongji University. In his view the election posters are pretty tame when it comes to content. The two largest German parties, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), tend to bet on a candidate's personality rather than on content, he said.

Georgiadou, Hassan und Zheng all belong to a group comprised of 20 Germany experts from around the world. They were invited by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to observe the election campaign and the federal election on September 22.

Read more: Outside experts weigh in on German elections | Germany | DW.DE | 20.09.2013

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