Election posters

On the occasion of election in the state of Lower Saxony today, here a potpourri of election posters by kaska's snap shots. The selection is absolutely random. I just gathered here all pictures I ever took of any election poster.

Found 2012 in a second hand whole sale in Poland, near Jaslo (Subcarpathian Region): An election poster of the extreme left party "Die Linke". Karl Voßkühler was a candidate in Mainz, in Southern West of Germany, for the Bundestag, election 2009. I did not know it before, I googled it afterwards. Why I took this picture was the fact that apparently this Polish second hand distributor collects anything he finds in Germany to sell it as a second hand article. In Subcarpathian Region. True story.

From extreme left to extreme right: NPD, a national-socialistic party, a constant controversy: should the party be delegalized? Anyway, the party can still legally participate in this federal state election. I took the picture this week. The reason is the following: the xenophobic, populistic, neo-nazi party placed their poster in front of the Hannover's city hall sticking it directly to the CDU-poster showing Aygül Özgan, the Minister for social welfare, women, family, health and integration in the State Lower Saxony. Mrs. Özgan is the first muslim person to become a minister of a federal state in Germany. As a daughter of Gastarbeiter-family she made a career par excellence and is the paradigm of successful integration for the whole of Germany. By hanging their poster under Christian-Democrats represented by Mrs. Özgan, NPD confirmed that they are out of the element.

Well, anyway, the extreme right has to hang their election posters very high. Otherwise they would be torn down and thrown away. By citizens. Here an example: Kiel Mönkeberg, 2009, a poster drifting away in the Baltic Sea.

The two former examples are small extreme political directions. Now to the two big ones, the two catch-all Parties, number one Social Democrats: 

 

Here a snap shot from Hanover, 2011 - local election. The guy on the poster, to the right side is Stephan Weil, the top candidate of the Social-Democrats back then and a popular Lord Mayor of Hanover since 2006 till today. Today he is a top candidate on the federal state level. Who knows how the evening will end for him. I took the picture because the place is unique. There is a big roundabout in the very center of Hanover, at Steintor. The architects of this traffic solution cut an ancient cemetery in two halves, the grave stones remained though. So when you stand there you are in the middle of some "Sleepy Hollow" scenery and in the middle of big city traffic at the same time. Strange atmosphere. And then the modern billboards next to the stone grave reliefs darkened by smog.

Another catch-all party of Germany: Christ-Democrats:

Here an election poster from Schleswig-Holstein, federal state election 2009. "Der Landesvater" - this is how Germans call their Prime Ministers of federal states. (My Non-German readers should by now be realizing that the German political system is quite unique and a real understanding of federalism takes time and energy.) Here the former Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein Peter Harry Carstensen. A born-and-bred North Frisian, with all what it takes: bullheaded, down to earth, charismatic and passionate for big machines. Controversial as well. I have heard people on the street calling him "Lügenpeter"- a "Lie Peter". Lie-Peter is history though, Torsten Albig from SPD (Social-Democrats) is Landesvater now. They call him Kojak. Check why:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsten_Albig

Local Election, Hanover 2011: Somebody made a joke(r) out of Dr. Schäuble who is currently Minister of Finance in Germany. Unique features: Swabian accent, wheelchair.

Away from Germany: Ukrainian beauty - Julia Tymoschenko, best hair style in politics ever. According to me at least.

Away from the poster - live act during election campaign for German Bundestag 2009 for a Hanover SPD-candidate, the Hip Hop artist Spax, the last one to perform in this video is a colleague of mine. A good dude.