On September 18, 16 years ago, Gerhard Schröder wrote TV and election history. In the “elephant round” from ARD and ZDF, the chancellor who was voted out was rude, rumbling. Angela Merkel replaced him anyway.
16 years ago, Gerhard Schröder talked about head and neck in the so-called “elephant round” of top politicians. He poked at Angela Merkel and wanted to “leave the church in the village”. On the evening of September 18, 2005 it was clear that the Federal Chancellor of the SPD and Red-Green could no longer rule. But even for Merkel as the Union’s top candidate, it’s not enough for a desired alliance with the FDP. In the “Berliner Runde” from ARD and ZDF there are memorable scenes with a rumbling chancellor that go down in political history and television history. Similar scenes are not to be expected for the evening of the federal election on September 26, 2021.
Schröder called his behavior “suboptimal” later in the “Zeit” himself. He was also “too rowdy” for his wife. He added, “Wasn’t good, I know.” But alcohol was not involved.
Gerhard Schröder: “Don’t pretend”
“Do you seriously believe that my party would accept an offer from Ms. Merkel to speak to this matter by saying she would like to become Federal Chancellor?” Schröder said on election evening at prime time in front of millions of viewers. “I mean, we have to leave the church in the village for once.” Schröder claimed: Merkel had lost the direct fight “he or she”. “You will not succeed in a coalition under your leadership with my social democratic party. That is clear. Make no mistake about it,” says Schröder with a brutal smile to Merkel, who smiled in disbelief.
She had previously said: “If we are the strongest force, and this is how it looks now, then of course we will hold talks with all parties. That is the rule of the game in democracy. And then we will see how we can achieve a stable government. “
All the chairmen of the parties represented in the Bundestag at that time had come to discuss the outcome of the election, invited by the then editors-in-chief and moderators of the group, Nikolaus Brender (ZDF) and Hartmann von der Tann (ARD).
New election brought about by itself after defeat in NRW
Schröder had brought about the early re-election because his own party had rebelled against his labor market “Agenda 2010” after the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia had been lost. His election campaign soon concentrated on the “unjust” tax model of financial expert Paul Kirchhof from Merkel’s team. After a TV duel with Merkel in front of 21 million viewers, the SPD polls initially rose by leaps and bounds. “Germany needs a change,” demanded the Union, on the other hand, because of the high unemployment.
The polls of the opinion research institutes had all predicted a CDU / CSU result of more than 40 percent in the week before the election. Many therefore assumed that black and yellow would win the election, albeit a narrow one. In the end, however, the Union only landed at 35.2 percent, just ahead of the SPD (34.2 percent). Despite everything, Schröder resigned after his suboptimal TV appearance.
“That is no longer to be taken seriously, Mr. Federal Chancellor”
For a few days in 2005 there was a hint of “Jamaica” or “Schwampel” (a government of the Union / FDP / Greens) in the air, but ultimately the grand coalition of the Union and the SPD with Franz Müntefering as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel, who became the first German head of government and stayed there for 16 years. If she stays there until December 17th, she’ll even catch up with Helmut Kohl in terms of the length of the term of office.
The then FDP leader Guido Westerwelle found clear words to Schröder in the “Elefantenrunde”: “As artificial as you are now celebrating your triumph here, that is no longer to be taken seriously, with all due respect, Mr. Chancellor. The election campaign is over now. And I think we can treat each other with respect again as normal. “
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