Elefantenrunde

Elefantenrunde, literally "Elephants' round-table", is a German language term for a television debate in which the leaders of parties with representation in parliament participate.

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.

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.

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.

These meetings attracted broad attention in the media, but they declined in significance after the death of Franz Josef Strauss.

[7][8] 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.

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.

[10] In Switzerland, a meeting of the leaders of the four parties of the Swiss Federal Council (SP, CVP, FDP, and SVP) is traditionally called an "Elefantenrunde".