To be clear: "Ostalgia" is a play on words? Nostalgia for the Ost (east) - as in a longing for the good old days of the DDR ?

@Husar: so your choices of voting were to cast a ballot in your home district, or apply for, then mail in a postal ballot? Are the postal ballots in wide use yet? Do they get counted before or after the votes cast at polling stations? What kind of turnout was there for this election (% of eligible voters actually voting). Sorry for all the ??'s, but you know me, always interested in the mechanics of governance.