Ex-pat Newlyweds

It’s a big day in Germany today. It’s Election day and I just voted in my first German election.

Even though I’ve had the benefit of a German passport, I haven’t been a very good German citizen. I’ve never paid taxes to the state, I didn’t go to school here and I never did any social services (even though its only men who have to do that). Finally, I’ve never voted and wasn’t able to until now.

I’ll confess: I skipped casting a municipal ballot in June (we were in Italy) and I didn’t bother voting in a referendum about religious education reforms in Berlin public schools. But today is the federal election! Today the whole country votes!

This year isn’t what the Germans call a ‘turning point’ election (Richtungswahl). Most here are ready to stay the course until the crisis moves out of the country. Germany’s economy, based on a luxury export market, has been hit hard by the markets, harder than expected (this is the world’s second-largest export market). Angela Merkel is expected to retain her lead of the country, taking it ‘cleverly out of the crisis’, as her campaign posters promise.

What she is hoping to change is the coalition she’s governing with. Currently, she’s partnered her conservative Christian Democrats with the left-leaning Social Democrats (everyone’s a democrat here…). She’s hoping to gain seats so that she can join forces with the business-friendly Free Democrats (like I said…).

Technically, I got to vote twice. Here, you get two voices: first you vote for your preferred MP in a vote for proportional representation, and then you choose the party that you want to represent your state in the state parliament. Complicated stuff, but this is Germany where we like to make our bureaucracy the antithesis to German efficiency.

Late this morning, Josh and I headed to the school around the corner. I went to the very last door for voters in distrcit 114. Gave the man my voting notification and my (German) ID while his colleague gave me my ballot.

Behind the plastic curtain I went, made the appropriate Xes. I emerged, folding my paper in half, dropping it into the slot, a better German citizen.

Technical note: London was lovely. The night we came back, we drowned our laptop (accidentally, of course), and have therefore been without. I will be able to post all about our London adventure on Thursday, when the new laptop will be accompanying Josh back from his business trip to Boston.