For the FDP, the nail-biter in federal and state elections on many Sunday evenings is a bad tradition.
According to the latest polls, the Free Democrats once again have to worry about taking the five percent hurdle on the coming election night in Lower Saxony.
Five years ago, thanks to a good national trend, the FDP made it into the state parliament in Hanover with a comparatively comfortable 7.5 percent.
However, the result was already well below the record level of 2013, when a first double-digit result was missed by a hair's breadth.
The FDP has not made it into the state parliament four times since 1947.
Unlike in 2017, the federal party with Christian Lindner at the helm is not proving to be a driving force this time, but rather a millstone.
The bumpy government in Berlin together with the traffic light partners SPD and Greens has gotten the FDP and its finance minister the worst so far.
Even if the two larger partners have to reckon with losses on election Sunday, their political existence is not at stake.
Red-Green can even hope for a government comeback in Lower Saxony.
Is this scenario enough for wavering CDU voters to give their second vote to the FDP?
This liberal last-minute strategy sounds like desperation.