First-time German voter hopes her ballot can offset the shift to the right

BERLIN (AP) — Gesa Schönwolff volunteered at a polling station in Berlin on Sunday, guiding voters into the building and checking their IDs. Then, the 18-year-old took a break and voted for the first time in her life.

She was enthusiastic about the transition to full participant in Germany’s democracy after feeling powerless about the threats she sees: climate change, Russia’s war against Ukraine, the surge of political extremism, a new U.S. administration that seems to be siding with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

“I feel that today more is at stake than ever before,” Schönwolff said. “I find it very scary to see how authoritarian voices are getting louder all over the world. And I hope that we will now elect and get a government that will hopefully manage to counteract this on an international level.”

She said she was giving her support to the Greens party, which backs climate-friendly policies and which has called for strong Western support for Ukraine.

“The Greens best represent my interests, especially climate protection,” she said. “I have the feeling that the other parties are not paying enough attention at the moment and the issue is being ignored.”

The anti-immigrant AfD has been surging after years of migration to Germany and security fears following attacks by Syrians, Afghans and other newcomers. Schönwolff says she acknowledges those fears but also feels that migration gets so much attention to the detriment of other important issues.

“Among my friends many worry that the topic of migration is getting so big that other topics which are just as important to us are taking a backseat — things like climate protection, education and social justice,” she said.

She spoke to The Associated Press after voting in a middle class neighborhood of single family homes in Pankow, a district in northern Berlin. Soon she was to return to the polling station where she volunteered to help count votes after polls close in the evening.

She was pleasantly surprised to see how other volunteers took her seriously despite her age. Some of her friends, still shy of the voting age of 18, were not so lucky. They also wanted a say in the major issues of the day and had been expecting to vote this year. But elections were called months ahead of schedule when outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed late last year.

“I am very happy that I was able to vote today and of course I hope that my vote can counteract the shift to the right,” she said. “That feels good.”