One can get quite confused pretty fast. From one of the incredibly numerous election posters that have currently turned Frankfurt into a large, colorful poster exhibition, "our Minister President" Boris Rhein smiles. Two streets away, Nancy Faeser greets from the billboard as "Minister President for Hesse." And if you go two corners further down the road, a Greens display recommends "Tarek Al-Wazir as Minister President." If you didn't notice last May that the Christian Democrat Rhein was elected as the "state's father", you could easily be misled.

Rhein currently has the best chance of adorning himself with the title after October 8th as well. Because the CDU is leading significantly in the polls, with values hovering just below or above the 30% mark. The Social Democrats are oscillating around the 20% mark in the polls, followed by the Greens. The AfD is predicted to have a vote share just below or even comparable to the Greens.

Since the party Die Linke, free voters, and other parties currently make up more than 10% of the votes and the FDP could still fail to clear the 5% hurdle, from today's perspective, a continuation of a black and green coalition between CDU and Greens or a black and red government with CDU and SPD are realistic options. Meanwhile, even if the Liberals make it into the state parliament, it is unlikely that there will be enough votes for a so-called "Ampel"-coalition between SPD, Greens and FDP. But the desire of everyone involved to endure in the Hessian state capital Wiesbaden what already costs a lot of energy in Berlin is probably not very pronounced.

Interestingly, the parties are campaigning primarily in areas where they are already strong. Apparently, the strategic approach of the different parties seems less focussed on the last-minute persuasion of swing voters, but more on mobilizing their regular clientele. The Greens have plastered half of the area called Nordend, the Christian Democrats dominate the Holzhausenviertel, and the Liberals are present almost everywhere in the banking district. In this respect, the parties provide residents with hints as to what the "Wahlomat" (an internet-based voting assistance tool) usually provides – in the sense of: which party would actually be the first choice in my residential area?

Even the smallest parties are visible in the streets. And there are more than enough of them in the Hessian election. Of course, there are the Animal Welfare Party, the Pirates, and Volt, which feel like they almost belong to established political offerings – even if some of their election slogans are surprising ("Liveable cities like in Utrecht," "Participatory politics like in Reykjavik"). And even "Die Basis," "The Humanists," or the "New Center" seem relatively familiar. But on the ballot, you can also find parties where it is not immediately clear whether they are not fun factions like "Die Partei" (retirement age at 80) or like the "Anarchist Pogo Party of Germany." On the one hand, there is the Party for "Veränderung, Vegetarier und Veganer" (Change, Vegetarians and Vegans), the V3. And on the other hand, the Party for "schulmedizinische Verjüngungsforschung", which roughly translates into "rejuvenation research based on conventional medicine." At least for the latter one must give credit to the fact that it breaks out of the perspective confinement of a term of office and thinks far beyond the boundaries of a legislative period, since their election posters display the fascinating question: "Where do you want to live in 800 years?"