German 'Borat' livens up boring elections

Horst Schlammer, the joke election candidate played by German comedian Hape Kerkeling. Photo / Supplied

Germany's latest candidate for chancellor has ferocious buck teeth, wants to make the bunny rather than the eagle the country's national symbol and has tried to copy President Obama with his campaign slogan: "Yes Weekend".

The grotesque joke figure of Horst Schlammer, played by the comedian Hape Kerkeling, is the newest addition to the German political scene and he has succeeded in livening up one of the dullest elections on record.

His satirical film Isch kandidiere (I am a candidate) goes on general release throughout Germany today and is almost certain to be a box office hit. One in five Germans have said they would consider voting for him if his name were ever to appear on a ballot paper.

Mr Schlammer, is a Teutonic version of Sasha Baron Cohen's Borat. He sports a dirty brown raincoat, moustache and thick glasses and his clothes are normally covered with bits of food.

He claims to be the deputy editor of a provincial German newspaper and recently set up his mock HSP (Horst Schlammer Party) to fight the general election. His manifesto pledges state-funded sun loungers and cosmetic surgery for all.

Mr Schlammer describes his party as "conservative, liberal, left-wing and a bit ecological". Asked about burning issues such as the financial crisis, he is disarmingly honest: "I have no solution," he admits. Swine flu? "I'm against it."

His film includes interviews with several senior politicians including Cem Zdemir, the leader of the Green party, but being Germany it is less harsh on political leaders than its Anglo-Saxon equivalent might be.

The satire coincides with another joke election campaign waged by "The Party" which says it wants to rebuild the Berlin Wall and banish pensioners to the former Communist east.

The Party is fighting a ruling which bans it from taking part in the election.

Last week Vera Lengsfeld, a conservative MP, spiced up the election by appearing on a campaign poster in a low-cut dress alongside an almost identically dressed Angela Merkel. "We have more to offer," her slogan boasted.

"There is an election campaign and no one wants to participate," is how Der Spiegel magazine put it. "If it wasn't for Horst Schlammer and Vera Lengsfeld's breast campaign, most people wouldn't even notice."

- THE INDEPENDENT