As they went to the polls on Sunday, Germans lightened the mood with some hilarious election-based memes.
After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave voting advice for Turks in Germany, some voters went to the next level and put his name on the ballot paper.
"Once again, AKP and Erdogan were on the ballot ;-) Here are some results," the organization wrote.
Ahead of the vote, Erdogan had called on Turks in Germany not to vote for the mainstream parties or the Greens, branding them "enemies of Turkey."
One voter got some inspiration at the ballot box and decided to ditch voting altogether.
He turned his ballot paper into a lottery ticket instead, adding the option, "yes, I am taking part in the lottery."
An entreaty to voters to spoil ballot papers with images of The Minions, characters from a 2015 animated comedy film, appeared to be successful.
Bin teils entzückt und teils irritiert, weil ich nicht weiß ob die Person auf zusätzlichen Stimmzetteln zeichnete oder ungültig wählte 😕 pic.twitter.com/ZHuezkEXiu
— NerdNerdNerd Podcast (@NNN_Podcast) 24 сентября 2017 г.
"I'm partly delighted and partly irritated, because I don't know if this person drew this on extra ballots or really spoilt their vote," a Minions fan wrote.
Sensing that Germans were ready for a change, brewery Hatz took advantage of the occasion, urging voters to exchange politicians for its variety of beers.
"You have the choice …. A glass is a glass!" Hatz told drinkers.
Germany's mainstream parties received a historic drubbing in parliamentary elections on Sunday. Angela Merkel's center-right CDU/CSU Bundestag group suffered its worst result since 1949, while the center-left SPD suffered its worst result since 1945.
The anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany surged into third place nationally, followed by the Free Democratic Party (FDP), a classically liberal party. The spoilt ballots barely put a dent in the turnout, which was over four percent higher than last time, at 76.2 percent.
