Lessons from the elections in Hessen, Germany

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Lessons from the elections in Hessen, Germany

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Published Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 11:01
by raphi sternfeld in European democracy & diversity (705 views and 0 comments)

The turnout of the elections in the German region Hessen has shown that targeted left policies pay out.

Nevertheless it is clear that progressive policies have to be combined with a certain amount of pragmatism. What counts in the eyes of the voters is the factor of trust. In the framework of this European election campaign, we social democrats should only be promising what can be realized. We must not fool the voters. Let’s concentrate on our core issues like social equality, education and secure pensions.

Furthermore we clearly need to take distances from every form of right wing populism. If we manage to lead a good and convincing election campaign, we will have a realistic chance to make a good result. Our capacity to mobilize the members of our movement will be decisive. The participation in the elections will be quite low. We might succeed. Now our task is to come up with reliable content - this will enable us to fight for a New Social Europe!

A German version of this post is attached.

Tags: EU, political parties

File: Raphi_Sternfeld.pdf