Since 1969, televised debates with the leading politicians of the parties in the
Landtag and
Bundestag have traditionally taken place before elections on the public broadcast channels
ARD and
ZDF. Elefantenrunden has taken place before parliamentary elections since the
1969 federal election. These were broadcast live by ARD and ZDF simultaneously, with the official name of
Drei Tage vor der Wahl (Three Days before the Election), before the
1972,
1976,
1980,
1983, and
1987 elections. There were no time limits and in 1976 the Elefantenrunde went on for more than four hours. The Elefantenrunde was no longer broadcast as part of the
election campaign after 1987, since the serving
Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl refused to participate in such a debate before the federal elections in
1990,
1994, and
1998. Since the
2002 election, there has been a televised debate between the leaders of the two main parties, the
CDU and the
SDP, which was unsuccessfully challenged in the
Federal Constitutional Court. Alongside this, at the
2005 election, there was a debate broadcast on ARD with the leaders of all the parties in the Bundestag a few days before the election, which (unlike the broadcasts up to 1987) had time limits and took a back seat to the debate between the two major parties in public consciousness. A similar broadcast was planned for the
2009 election, but was cancelled due to the refusal of candidates from the CDU and the SPD to participate. On the Sunday before the
2013 election, a 90 minute long "Berliner Runde" (Berlin Round-table) was broadcast in parallel by ARD and ZDF instead, in which prominent supporters of the parties in the Bundestag took part instead of the actual candidates. Elefantenrunde continue to take place after federal elections, in which most of the part leaders analyse the course of the election; these are broadcast by ARD and ZDF simultaneously. Similar round-tables also take place after
Landtag elections, with the general secretaries or federal leaders of the parties. These are also broadcast by the two national broadcasters. The official name of the broadcast is the "Berliner Runde" (until 1999, the "Bonner Runde"). Finally, informal, private, round tables of the party leaders of the coalition parties in Helmut Kohl's cabinet (the CDU, the
CSU and the
FDP), were also referred to as "Elefantenrunde". These meetings were typical of the governing style of Helmut Kohl and his so-called
Kitchen Cabinet. They were held before important decisions and clarified important issues outside of the official platforms (the Bundestag, , etc.). These meetings attracted broad attention in the media, but they declined in significance after the death of
Franz Josef Strauss.
Memorable rounds 2005 In the elephant round programme on election night 2005 featuring all party leaders, Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder (SPD), in a memorable performance, insisted he had won although the SPD had fallen behind the CDU/CSU and accused the moderators of having “an intellectual problem”. The chancellor then declared to
Angela Merkel "Under her leadership she will never get a coalition with my party" and insisted that the CDU and CSU should be treated as separate parties. His performance during the programme was criticized by the media, CDU/CSU and the FDP as "shocking", "egocentric", "arrogant" and "bizarre". The
Berliner Kurier newspaper headline asked if Schröder was “intoxicated by his victory or did he have one glass of wine too many?”. Schröder himself later called his behavior “suboptimal” but denied he was drunk.
1987 In the pre-election round,
Jutta Ditfurth of the Greens, who was the first female participant was seen by the other all-male party leaders of being too aggressive.
Martin Bangemann of the FDP went on to tell Ditfurth “Being polemical makes you ugly.” It was said that Kohl decided not to attend another pre-election debate again in subsequent elections because of Ditfurth’s spirited performance.
1976 The debate saw
Franz-Josef Strauss of the CSU, CDU's
Helmut Kohl and then-Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt of the SPD in a four-hour "grudge match" full of withering insults. Strauss and Kohl went on the attack while Schmidt, cigarette in hand and appearing to drink alcohol was described as having brushed them off with unapologetic arrogance. == Switzerland ==