Less than a year ago, Jürgen Mölleman, deputy head of the Free Democrats, declared the party needed a chancellor candidate. FDP leader Guido Westerwelle, sensing his colleague's chancellorship aspirations immediately rejected the suggestion, dashing Möllemann’s hopes that he himself may be the chosen one.

One year on, Westerwelle has changed tack. At the FDP’s annual party conference, which took place this weekend, Westerwelle declared his candidacy for chancellorship. And the FDP delegates enthusiastically voted for him as the party's first-ever candidate for chancellor.

An election candidate is "a signal of the party’s independence" Westerwelle explained at the last party conference, an opinion which has met with approval among party ranks. According to Kiel’s FDP faction leader Wolfgang Kubicki, the presentation of a candidate is the only way to avoid a two party fight between the ruling Social Democratic Party and it's main challenger, the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union.

Political independence

The FDP’s decision to pit itself against the two main parties fits well in Guido Westerwelle’s concept of political independence. For the first time in years, the FDP is marching into an election campaign without saying with whom it will form a coalition.

Recent polls show Germany's conservative CDU/CSU leading with 41 per cent of the votes, followed by the SPD with 31 per cent and the Liberals with 12 per cent. The FDP is most likely to enter a coalition with the conservatives. This would bring the small party back into the German government after four years of opposition. But Westerwelle refuses to disclose any party preferences, saying both possible coalitions are better than the current red-green government.

The Liberals' silence on future coalition partners has helped the FDP to gain votes, Westerwelle says. Indeed, after two years of straggling behind, the FDP is riding the electorate waves.

The recent election in Saxony Anhalt topped the list as the FDP gained a record 13.3 per cent. And while other parties are losing on voters, the FDP is gaining, especially with the young electorate.

Party facelift

The FDP’s success is the result of a revamp of leaders, members and its programme. The FDP, known to be a pro-business and middle class party, is in the process of opening its doors to a broader spectrum of voters. The FDP’s new maxim is "a party for all people", without becoming a "Volkspartei", or huge "people’s party" like the SPD, which has 730,000 members.

The FDP attracted increasing attention in the past months due to its new "look": modern, fresh, even provocative - an attraction which climaxed with Guido Westerwelle making a guest-appearance in the hugely popular television show, "Big Brother" two years ago.

The public attention hasn't always been good. Deputy leader Jürgen Möllemann (photo) caused outrage within the Jewish community recently when he came out in support of Palestinian attacks. He said he supported the Palestinians' right to defend themselves and would do the same. "And I would not just do that in my country, but in the country of the aggressor," he said.

It was Möllemann, a former army parachutist, who first unveiled the media-showiness of the FDP with his spectacular parachute jumps in the name of election campaigning.

Today, an increasing number of FDP politicians are taking a page out of the book of Möllemann and presenting themselves as witty, provocative and modern to a public weary of the two main election rivals, SPD and CDU/CSU.

A few days ago, Guido Westerwelle turned up in a TV show with a huge yellow 18 – the FDP aims at getting 18 per cent of the vote – on the soles of his shoes. And on Thursday, the FDP leader drove up to the Mannheim Congress Centre, home to this weekend’s party conference, in a huge, bright yellow bus, the "Guidomobile".

Too much show

For some liberal oldtimers, the FDP’s revamp is just a bit too much show. "You have to be careful, that the fun and event party, that one assumes one owes to the the media, does not cover up the substance and content of the party" honorary chairmann Otto Graf Lambsdorff warned.

A recent Handelsblatt poll on voting trends in business circles showed the FDP had failed to gain votes from Germany’s top managers and business leaders in the past months. "This is the first time that I hear I need to reconsider the way we are accepted in the economy. We are otherwise known to be close to business" Westerwelle told Handelsblatt. "However, I can imagine that the odd manager may have not been too happy that the FDP leader showed up in the Big Brother container".

But Westerwelle – already known in German press as the "Spasspolitiker", or fun politician – doesn’t appear to mind. "We are not a fun party", Westerwelle assures again and again.

At the Mannheim conference, when the delegates delved in deep discussions over the party’s 2002 manifesto, he tried to prove that the FDP can be taken just as seriously as his election rivals.

Indeed, the FDP’s manifesto appears to be one of the only ones in this year’s election which doesn’t just beat around the bush, but does actually speak of reform.

"We want to modernize Germany" Westerwelle says. And the road there does not rule out a bit of fun, he adds.