Franz Walter is a senior political scientist close to the Greens. In the past year or two, I noted him as one of the public figures laying the ideological foundation for (and implicitly advocating) Black-Green coalitions as a Green option.

Now in the SPIEGEL, Walter writes about an emotional revival for Red-Green in the populace, with the CDU's scare tactics no more working and Harz-IV blamed only on Schröder, Clement and Münte; reminiscences how the partners in NRW are much more ready for each other than back in the nineties (under Wolfgang "coal lobby" Clement) -- and ends with the suggestion that, would Red-Green see itself as a project, then they should now open and expand the Red [meaning: to the Left Party).

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

The last few years saw the full emergence of a five part system (Fünfparteiensystem) in Germany: the federal parliament and most regional parliaments consist of the big CDU/CSU and SPD and the smaller FDP, Greens and the Left Party. This is a Reunification prcess: the Left Party spread in the West, and the Greens in the East. The exceptions that remain:

• Left Party: Bavaria, Baden-Württenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate
  
• Greens: Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
  
• FDP: Hamburg

As polls stand, the exceptions could reduce to one state for each small party next year (when Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württenberg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern vote).

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Well, they were denied the ballot in the federal elections... and called for a vote for the Pirates.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}