Merkel strengthens her grip on Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right government strengthened its grip on German politics with victories for the two ruling parties in three state elections and bad results for what remains of the opposition.
In the first electoral test since she took office in November, Merkel’s Christian Democrats won in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony-Anhalt states, preliminary results from yesterday’s election showed, while the Social Democrats were dominant in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The outcome will probably see the main opposition party, the pro-business Free Democrats, pushed out of one or two of the three state parliaments.
That would strengthen the majority that Merkel’s “grand coalition” enjoys in the upper house of parliament, where Germany’s 16 states are represented and which must also approve some federal legislation.
“It was a good day for the grand coalition and for Mrs. Merkel,” said Bernhard Vogel, a veteran Christian Democrat on ARD public television. “There are no longer any real hurdles so long as the main parties can agree.”
Germany’s two big parties, which formed a coalition government at the federal level four months ago, toned down their traditional rivalry in yesterday’s regional races and shelved tougher issues until after the vote.
As a result, the campaigning was unusually bland, marked by sniping over issues such as education, immigration and the recovering economy. Officials reported a low turnout.
“It was a strange election,” said Rainer Bruederle, a senior member of the Free Democrats, who have struggled to make an impact in opposition. “The two parties in the grand coalition have stabilised each other.”
According to preliminary figures released late yesterday, the Christian Democrats won 44.2% of the vote in prosperous Baden-Wuerttemberg, the largest of the three states and home to major industrial firms such as DaimlerChrysler AG. That was not quite enough to give them a majority in the local legislature, meaning the party could continue its coalition with the Free Democrats.
In neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate, Social Democrat governor Kurt Beck won 45.6%, giving his party enough seats to govern alone there for the first time.
In Saxony-Anhalt, an eastern state with more than 20% unemployment, the Christian Democrats won 36.2%. However, their Free Democrat partners slumped to 6.7%, leaving the Social Democrats poised to replace them in a local “grand coalition” mirroring Merkel’s federal government in Berlin.
There was no breakthrough for either the far right or the new Left Party, made up of former East German communists and Social Democrats disgruntled with what they see as the party’s pro-market approach.
Merkel’s pragmatic, consensual style and a flurry of well-received foreign trips have sent her approval ratings soaring since she replaced her Social Democrat predecessor Gerhard Schroeder in November.
She has also struck up good working relations with her erstwhile political enemies, especially Vice Chancellor Franz Muentefering, who masterminded Schroeder’s abrasive campaign last year.
However, analysts point out that her government has yet to tackle divisive issues such as how to reform the country’s creaking health service and what role nuclear power will play in securing future energy supplies.
Talks on the health reforms, where the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats have little common ground, begin Monday.
