Election on TV Silent election night
Our guest author from London reports about his new life in Saxony-Anhalt. He was suprised about the German people at the election night.
Magdeburg l We’d been watching the election on TV in a bar, but it was quieting down. I was surprised – it wasn't even 11 – but, not wanting to sit in an empty bar, we decided to make a move. We paid hurriedly, got our coats and rushed home as fast as we could. We turned on our own TV, eager not to miss a moment that might define the nation’s future. Quick! Is this the right channel? Oh. A documentary about computers. Try another! Nope, nothing. Another! No luck. Oh well, we thought. I suppose the excitement is over for another four years.
Now I understand. German TV deals with nationally important events like general elections in the same way that a lot of German people seem to: with understated calm. They make plenty of time for these things, of course, but why let them get in the way of the rest of the daily schedule?
If that’s your attitude towards elections, you can never have experienced the mixture of excitement and dread, fascination and stasis that comes with election night in the UK. We’re particularly well drilled in these at the moment, having had a major national vote in each of the past four years – it’s something of an annual tradition. TV coverage of the election rolls on all night, and the nation watches, gripped, as every rumour is repeated, every prediction relayed, every vote count overanalysed. It is hypnotic. We watch it compulsively in the same way we watch "I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here" – but with a greater sense of importance, because the winner gets to run the country.
After the Brexit vote in 2016, after our ‘surprise’ general election this year, it’s always the same – worried Brits, of all political persuasions, stay up all night drinking tea and eating crisps, watching the results filter through. Some people even hold ‘election parties’ (excruciatingly awkward if you back the wrong side). True, we generally don't know a great deal more at 5 in the morning than we do at 11 at night, but the idea of watching history unfold before our eyes is somehow too enticing. And it means that the next day at work, we can all boast about how little sleep we've had – the ultimate sign of how passionately we care about politics.
Of course Germans care about politics, too, and many hold strong opinions. There are also plenty of serious clashes of opinion – particularly at the moment. But the German media seemed so much calmer than its British counterpart – not just the TV channels, but also the papers, which in the UK zealously take sides and always tell their readers how to vote. I’m sure that British people are a lot more stressed out about politics as a result of this attitude.
As I turned off the TV and headed to bed at quarter past 11 on German election night, there were still so many questions that remained unanswered. What are the politicians all tweeting? Which part of the country would count the votes fastest? I’d know by now in the UK, I sulked.
But actually, there were important questions left open, too: what sort of coalition would be formed, for instance. I don’t think it was too crazy to have wanted to hear some more opinions about that on election night. UK election nights might be over the top, but it isn’t over the top to get passionate about politics. It’s easy to forget, but politicians have the power to completely reshape our lives. Doesn't it make sense to stay up all night worrying about that?
