Bundestag election campaign: TV duels between Scholz and Merz – criticism from competitors

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his most promising challenger, Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU), will meet in several TV duels in the federal election campaign. ARD and ZDF want to let them compete against each other on February 9th. RTL invites you on February 16th – “to the final and decisive exchange of blows” between the two.

The public broadcast duel – 90 minutes live simultaneously on the first and second two weeks before the election – will be moderated by Sandra Maischberger (ARD) and Maybrit Illner (ZDF). The edition of RTL, ntv and “Stern” – a week before the election – is moderated by Pinar Atalay and Günther Jauch.

In addition to “The Duel – Scholz against Merz”, another duel is planned jointly by ARD and ZDF, and Robert Habeck (Greens) and Alice Weidel (AfD) have been asked, the public broadcaster said. RTL also announced that it was “currently in discussions” with the other parties’ candidates for chancellor and top candidates about further duel combinations.

The Greens and AfD criticize ARD and ZDF

The Green party leaders Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge criticized the planned TV duel only between Scholz and Merz. “The days of the two major popular parties are over. Everyone knows that. The public broadcaster doesn’t yet?” wrote Haßelmann on Platform That doesn’t reflect our country.” Dröge wrote: “Say Das Erste and ZDF are really serious? To only invite the SPD & CDU? Back to the GroKo with friendly support?”

AfD leader Alice Weidel also criticized the television duel plans. “The whole thing is of course a farce,” said Weidel before a parliamentary group meeting in Berlin. She received invitations from non-chancellor candidates such as Christian Lindner and Sahra Wagenknecht. “But somehow they don’t let me duel with Mr. Merz or with Mr. Scholz,” she added. Weidel pointed out that the AfD is in second place in surveys. This was also an argument why the party nominated Weidel as its candidate for chancellor, even if a government majority and therefore chancellorship is currently not in sight due to a lack of partners.

A spokesman for Weidel told “Bild”: “We will legally examine whether the AfD, as a party with the currently second-best poll numbers, should disappear again into the ant circles.”

Broadcaster: “No chancellor duel”

When asked, ZDF justified the decision as follows: “ARD and ZDF invite you to a duel between incumbent Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the challenger with the best prospects of successor, Friedrich Merz (CDU).”

The ARD made a similar statement and explained: “Specifically: We are having a duel with the candidate who received the most votes in the last federal election and the one who, according to surveys, is currently clearly ahead. We are not organizing a chancellor duel. ” Since there are two other parties that have consistently been above ten percent since the last federal election, ARD and ZDF also invited their top candidates, it said. Habeck and Weidel were asked about this. However, Weidel said: “I have not yet received a request to do a double with Robert Habeck.”

All top candidates would have the opportunity to discuss each other in direct comparison in the so-called “final round” on February 20th (ARD and ZDF), the ARD statement continued. ZDF explained that “the political talk shows and planned citizen formats from ARD and ZDF” also enabled direct exchange.

In addition to the Union, SPD, Greens and AfD, the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance also announced on Monday evening that it would name the party founder and top candidate as candidate for chancellor, “so that our competitors do not gain an unjustified advantage,” as General Secretary Christian Leye told the German Press Agency. What is probably meant, among other things, is that only top candidates labeled as candidates for chancellor can be invited to television panels.