Green Party Chancellor candidate Robert Habeck will not participate in a TV duel with AfD Chancellor candidate Alice Weidel. The campaign spokesperson for Habeck told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” that they had “clearly ruled out” the duel and would not accept an invitation. “ARD and ZDF have issued an invitation and then created a fact with their press release. It’s incomprehensible why this had to be announced two months before the election. By doing so, ARD and ZDF are intervening in an extremely short, intense, and open election campaign.” He added, “The opinion poll ratings are so good for Chancellor candidate Robert Habeck that no one can predict the outcome on election day. As a reminder, at the same time before the 2021 election, the SPD was far behind in the polls – and yet ARD and ZDF had planned a triple debate from the start. ARD and ZDF should reconsider their decision.” ARD and ZDF plan to pit Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and CDU Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz against each other on February 9. RTL will host a debate on February 16, dubbed the “last and decisive showdown” of the two. Besides “The Duel – Scholz vs. Merz”, ARD and ZDF are planning another duel, to which Habeck and Weidel were invited, the public broadcasters said.
Habeck Pulls Out, Leaving a Hole in the German Political Landscape!
