Ms. Jamnig-Stellmach, which topics are decisive for the cross on your ballot paper this year?

Kira Kramer

Editor on duty at FAZ.NET.

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The issues that are important to me unfortunately hardly play a role in this election campaign. A lot is about personalities and their misconduct or their supposed competencies, but too little about content. The effects of the corona pandemic on young people - children, adolescents but also students - would be a topic that would have to be discussed much more broadly. Surely it cannot be expected that all initiative comes from young people themselves. People are just too different for that. This is the case for some, but not everyone can bring up this initiative. Candidates could use this to sharply demarcate their positions on education and training - but they simply don't. Another important topic for me is the market economy.The Greens often say that they do not want to issue any bans. In doing so, they make it abundantly clear what they do not want. It's the same in my eyes. With Armin Laschet, I'm not sure whether he can handle the topic. And with Olaf Scholz, I wonder what he even wants. From my point of view, Europe is also not being addressed according to its relevance.

Which of the debates that you discussed in the context of “Germany speaks” is what worries you the most?

That depended on the interlocutor. In the case of a man from Dresden, the question was at length whether Germany cares too little about the East Germans. In doing so, I met a very negative mood that I could not accept, as I myself am and have been traveling a lot in the East. An example: pensioners in the east receive a pension increase compared to pensioners in the west. Even if this is minimal, it shows that the East is still receiving greater support. The question arises to me whether this unequal treatment is still necessary after 30 years. Three decades is a long time. There is now a whole generation who only grew up in the east after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And even those who are older have now had enough time to get involved in the new situation. But you have to want that too.There is no point in looking into the past forever and complaining. We should shape the future together.

Did your discussions in the context of “Germany speaks” also help you to make your own voting decision?

No not that.

For me, my conversations took place independently of political issues.

For me it was about looking into other lives, not other political orientations.

None of the conversations was political, it was always about who I am and who are you and what are our differences and similarities.

But I don't necessarily have to evaluate them politically.

Instead, where do you look for guidance for your choice?

I am a very political person.

At the beginning of the two-thousanders I was a member of the state parliament myself.

To get political information, I mainly read the news.

Every day I check various news apps, such as FAZ, Spiegel, Welt, Berliner Tagesspiegel and a few more.

These are my sources of information.

I don't watch TV shows like the Trielli or the like.

Do you vote according to party or person and are you loyal to the party or alternate voter?

So far I have been loyal to the party, now I have divided my votes.

And also gave my vote to a person whose party I have not yet voted for.

Which two adjectives do you use to describe the election campaign?

Lame and flat.

Do you already know who you will vote for?

I have already voted by postal vote.

My choice was liberal-bourgeois.

Karola Jamnig-Stellmach is 66 years old and lives in Bremen. She is retired, continues to work as a consultant for executives and was at times a member of the state parliament in Bremen. She held three debates as part of “Germany speaks”.