Bayern election: So ran the TV duel between Söder and Hartmann

Outside the TV studio, it flickers wildly: red, green and yellow, with turn-off arrows to the right and left, up and down, for pedestrians and motorists alike. It is an installation that Münchner Stadtwerke has commissioned for the inner courtyard of its corporate headquarters. The name of the artwork: "Traffic Light Flower", in German "Ampelblume".

The installation looks like a comment on the currently confusing political situation in the Free State. And for the event in the renovated former meter workshop of Stadtwerke. There meet in unusual color combination, the two politicians Markus Söder and Ludwig Hartmann to TV duel of the Bavarian Radio (BR) on each other.

A black man measures himself with a green, so the traditional live format of the BR was never assembled. Most recently, an SPD challenger always faced the CSU prime minister. The fact that the Social Democrat Natascha Kohnen has to watch this time, is due to the poor poll numbers of the SPD, which lag far behind the Greens, so that the BR decided to re-enforce.

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Moderator Christian Nitsche (l.) With Markus Söder and Ludwig Hartmann

The first question addressed BR editor Christian Nitsche to Söder, so it was previously drawn. It's about the housing shortage in Bavaria. Söder calls for "building more homes, building faster". Hartmann says: "Save and build space, that is not a contradiction."

Chaos has a name

The two lose a little in the numbers, the block is tough, just like the expansion of wind power. Things get more exciting when Söder and Hartmann are to give their analysis on the state of the Federal Government. "You can see in Berlin what happens when coalitions are welded together that do not belong together," says Söder. "I do not want that in Bavaria every day."

The message spreads the Prime Minister currently on all channels: Dear voters, if you want that everything is proper and orderly in Bavaria, then leave the CSU alone in power. Hartmann answers dryly. "It's your party leader who causes chaos." This has a name: Horst Seehofer.

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Söder, the trained television journalist, brings his messages more succinctly: The center of society must be strengthened, humanity and order should be balanced in the refugee policy, no "experimentation with the schools." For this he admonishes a bit too often, Hartmann please listen and please do not interrupt him, this acts patronizing.

The green is aggressive, even if he sometimes tangles. The CSU must accept "that Bavaria is an immigration country". Hartmann criticizes Söders Kreuzerlass and says: "The cross belongs to the faithful, it does not belong to the state." His oath of office as prime minister, Hartmann answers to a question from the editor-in-chief, he would do without the formula of God - a Christian policy is more important to him.

"Classic Sassy Green Program"

But with the claim to the top office of the green leading candidate does not even, even a curiosity of the black-green TV duel. But partners in a black-green coalition? After all, the combination according to current poll numbers would be the only viable two-party alliance. "We have completely different policies," says Hartmann. But you are "ready to talk".

Söder attests to the opponent a "classic stuffy green program" with well-known enemy images and templates. But he does not exclude anything. After the end of the program he assesses the duel in the anteroom: "Now everyone can imagine how complicated that would be."

For now, the two have at least a date for hiking. Hartmann invites Söder to the excursion to demonstrate to him in nature how appropriate the third national park demanded by the Greens is. Söder: "We like to go hiking, but there is no national park."

Before the parliamentary elections on October 14, they will probably not see each other hiking together. But maybe there will be an appointment very soon afterwards.

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