Chancellor Merkel to face rival Steinmeier in German TV debate

Chancellor Angela Merkel will face her main rival Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday night in a live TV debate, exactly two weeks before Germany votes in its national election. It's expected that 20 million people will tune in to watch the debate.

Current opinion polls already suggest that Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party will receive enough votes to allow her to remain as chancellor. For the last four years Merkel and Steinmeier with his Social Democratic Party (SDP) have worked as a coalition, with the SDP being junior and have shared power, making decisions for the country about health care and the financial crisis, among other things. Deutsche Welle reports that this TV debate could be Steinmeier's last chance to turn around the fortunes of his party. Pollsters are predicting that his party will only receive 23 per cent of the vote in the upcoming election, due to take place on September 27. Speaking to Bild Am Sonntag newspaper, political scientist, Karl-Rudolf Korte said, The TV debate is Steinmeier's big chance because he will reach millions of people." So far the German election campaign has been described as dreary by Peter Kloeppel, news chief at RTL television, one of the moderators. He said that he hoped the TV debate would "inject some enthusiasm" into the campaign. Speaking in an interview with Nuremburger Zeitung Kloeppel said, "We can try to pour some oil onto the fire but they will both have to play their part. We can only hope they want to, we cannot order them to." He then added, "It's a duel, not a wild shootout." Currently vice chancellor and foreign minister, Steinmeier will have to work hard to close the gap between himself and the popular current chancellor. Deutsche Welle goes on to say,

This is Steinmeier's first run at higher office and his poll numbers indicate that he hasn't really connected with the public. That may change tonight.

Manfred Guellner, head of polling firm Forsa, said, "What we have seen so far is that Steinmeier is uncomfortable in the role of candidate. "It will be tough to score points against Merkel, who has gained a lot of experience with public events like this." In a debate in 2002 between Gerhard Shroeder and Edmund Stoiber, Schroeder turned what was looking to be a defeat for the SPD party in a complete victory when he demolished Stoiber when debating Iraq. Merkel would benefit from Sunday's debate if she takes the chance to impress voter. Ideally Mrs Merkel would like to see a coalition between her own party and the pro-business party, Free Democrats (FDP). She would have to hold her own and essentially "win" the debate in order to secure enough votes to allow that coalition to take place. A poll for ARD public television said that 64 percent of Germans believed that Merkel would "win" the debate on Sunday, while only 15 percent thought Steinmeier would come out triumphant. However, appealing to the German public's feelings on the war in Afghanistan and wanting their troops to come him, Steinmeier's foreign ministry released a ten point plan for pulling the troops from Afghanistan by 2013. Germany has roughly 4,200 troops in Afghanistan and this plan, released only hours before the debate is due to begin, could prove popular among the German public. NATO is currently investigating the Germany army's decision to call an air strike last week in Afghanistan that may have killed many civilians.