The blows hit every second, left and right and again left.

The opponent accepts it and stoically paddles through the ring.

“Keep your hands up,” someone yells from the side.

Manuela Schwesig, the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, is watching.

It's a Monday evening in Schwerin, she is visiting the tractor boxing club.

A showcase club, 186 GDR championship and 20 German championship titles, it says on the homepage.

Young men in the hall, sweat and muscles.

Schwesig came with her SPD party friend Olaf Scholz, the candidate for chancellor.

It is the beginning of August when he is considered an outsider.

The two talk to boxers and coaches and hear basic information about fighting in the ring.

Matthias Wyssuwa

Political correspondent for Northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.

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“It's not about hitting the head, it's about pulling your head away.” Or: “It looks brutal, but it's not that bad.” In the end, both of them climb into a ring for photos. Scholz gets a big red boxing glove, Schwesig doesn't. But it is not as if she would have to defend herself against severe attacks during these weeks. It's her first campaign as prime minister, and at times it almost seems like she's alone in the ring. As if no blow could hit her.

On Sunday the people in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania elect not only a new Bundestag, but also a new Landtag.

Michael Sack from the CDU challenges Manuela Schwesig.

The SPD has been the head of government in Schwerin since 1998, and the CDU has been a junior partner since 2006.

The state election is Schwesig's political school leaving examination.

And it's an unequal fight.

All polls suggest that Schwesig is facing a big win.

Then a lot should be possible for them, not just in the Schweriner Ring.

The CDU at 15 percent, on par with the AfD

On an early Friday evening in September, Schwesig sits on the balcony of a Rostock restaurant and looks out over the city harbor. The water of the Warnow glistens in the low sun, and things are getting better and better for you and your party. A survey for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania sees the SPD at 40 percent, it could even be the best result since reunification. The CDU is 15 percent, on par with the AfD.

If people were allowed to decide directly on their Prime Minister, 65 percent would vote Schwesig, 11 percent Sack.

There is even a tailwind from Berlin and the federal party.

After Schwesig defeated cancer in her body over the past few years and then made headlines nationwide for months in the fight against the corona pandemic, everything suddenly seems to be very easy for the SPD.

All of this corresponds to the mood that one experiences on the streets and in the squares, says Schwesig about the survey results.

"We worked hard for this."

"Who else should you take?"

Before she came to the restaurant to talk, Schwesig visited a small company on the outskirts of Rostock that cuts everything that can be cut. Business park charm, halls, car dealerships, gas station. Schwesig can be shown how a jet of water enriched with sand slides through an aluminum plate and tells how expensive the machines are. When she discovers a bottle of champagne, she asks if it's someone's birthday. When she stands by the worker who has been shown to her, she congratulates immediately. He seems puzzled for a moment and then explains what he's doing on his machine. When she's gone, he says the wavelength was right. And even if he doesn't sound really enthusiastic about the election in the country, he still says about them: "Who else should you take?"