Merkel’s heir upends election predictability

Bloomberg

At a campaign stop outside a picturesque market town in Saxony, Armin Laschet was faced with a very delicate political dilemma for a German politician: what to put on his bratwurst.
With cameras clicking, the faltering favourite to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor hesitated before picking ketchup, while a local ally from his Christian Democratic party subtly noted Saxony’s custom was to take mustard.
“Oh, I thought the mustard was mayonnaise,” Laschet said, inadvertently disparaging the local condiment and providing the latest example of his struggles to make headway on the campaign trail.
His next faux pas followed on Friday. During a meeting at Tesla Inc’s unfinished factory outside Berlin, Laschet asked Elon Musk whether hydrogen could be the automobile industry’s future. The Tesla boss, who is investing in the plant to build electric cars, chuckled and dismissed the idea as a “waste of time.”
In six weeks, Germany will elect a new leader after 16 years under Merkel. The race is a toss up, and Laschet is at the heart of the unpredictability.
“Never since 1949 has a federal German election been so open,” Manfred Guellner, head of the Forsa polling institute, said in a phone interview. “If the CDU-led bloc still wants to win, it would basically have to replace its candidate.”
Three parties — Laschet’s conservative bloc, the Social Democrats and the Greens — have a legitimate shot at the chancellery. To gain power, messy and unstable three-way coalitions will likely be needed with loyalties split between six parties.