BERLIN — In German elections past, candidates have kicked off their campaigns in the warm, calm days of summer and made their final pitches to voters amid crisp fall weather and autumn leaves.
This time, they’re buying thermal underpants and handing out mulled wine.
For the first time in almost four decades, Germans are going to the polls in the dead of winter. The Feb. 23 snap vote, which comes seven months earlier than the planned election date, represents not just a political upset but a logistical and campaigning challenge for the parties hoping to win seats in Germany’s parliament. Many parts of the country have spent the final stretch before election day under layers of snow.
“To combat the freezing cold, I bought a thick, long winter coat and functional underwear,” said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). “I’ve also used hand-warmers for the first time in my life.”
Campaigning in the frigid winter weather “is no fun for me,” he told the German news agency dpa.
When Germany’s three-party governing coalition collapsed in November, it upended the traditional election calendar that has featured September votes for the last seven election cycles. The result has been Germany’s first Winterwahlkampf since 1987, before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Parties have scrambled to get their campaigns in order and reach as many voters as they can in the lead-up to Feb. 23. They’ve done so in an environment where fewer people are out and about, there are fewer big gatherings to organically meet voters, and many large rallies have to be held indoors.
“It’s a challenge to meet people, because the weather means they’re simply not stopping at information stands or at the market,” Reem Alabali-Radovan, an SPD parliamentarian from the northeastern city of Schwerin, told POLITICO. “[In rural parts of the district] often the only way to talk to people is at weekly markets, and there’s less traffic there.”
Reaching voters in the cold
Germans retreat indoors during winters that can be harsh, cold and dark — and when they’re bundled up and trying to get from one place to the next, the last thing many of them want is to stop and chat with a politician outdoors.
Big rallies, too, have been a challenge. Rather than staging them in large outdoor spaces, parties are largely planning events indoors, which gives them less flexibility on how many people can attend. The upcoming Carnival season, which begins just days after Germans head to the polls, has also made it tough to book space on short notice.
Ahead of Germany’s 2021 election, Greens politician Annalena Baerbock held a rally in her hometown of Potsdam, just outside Berlin. An evening event outdoors in September was no problem — but a similar event this year saw the temperature drop to barely above freezing by the time Baerbock had finished speaking.
After deciding to move the rally outdoors due to space concerns, Greens officials had set up a stand serving tea and hot Punsch next to the rally and suggested that supporters purchase party-branded hats and scarves to stay warm. The candidate herself, donning a thick coat and warm winter cap pulled down over her ears, made reference to the cold as she opened her speech.
“We didn’t want half of you to show up and then have to stand outside the door,” Baerbock said. “Now everyone is standing outside — that’s what we call solidarity. And hopefully there’s some punch, too.”
Gloomy weather, gloomy moods
For those worried about having to brave the cold to get to the polls on election day, federal election officials encouraged them to vote by mail, and told POLITICO that local electoral districts are taking precautions to ensure safe access to polling places.
But an especially cold day could of course keep some people from showing up to vote. The Jan. 25, 1987 election in what was then West Germany saw the lowest turnout since 1949.
In the final days of this campaign, politicians are also grappling with the fact that gloomy, chilly weather makes people grumpier and less receptive to political interlocutors.
“What people also underestimate is that in the summer, people are generally in a better mood than in January,” one senior CDU politician from western Germany told POLITICO. “January and February are the worst months of the year in terms of mood.”
For parties that are canvassing door-to-door, the dark early evenings make it more difficult to get people to respond or engage with campaigners, the politician added: “Who opens the door at six o’clock when there’s a strange figure from the Greens or the CDU at the door?”
Even the man who opinion polls suggest will be chancellor next week is feeling the chill.
“Winter election campaigns require a bit more caution than when you’re outside in the summer,” Friedrich Merz told Die Zeit’s podcast, when asked if he worried about getting a cold on the campaign trail. “The days are shorter — we all have to be a bit more careful.”
Nette Nöstlinger and Chris Lunday contributed to this report.
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