Merkel's CDU loses big in regional elections Results embolden left-leaning parties before national vote BERLIN-German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party suffered heavy losses in regional elections on Sunday, encouraging leftleaning parties ahead of Germany's national elections set for Sept. 27.
Ms. Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union, lost its ruling majorities in the state legislatures of Saarland and Thuringia, potentially opening the way for center-left administrations in both states. The Christian Democrats looked set to retain power in a third state, Saxony. The left-leaning Social Democrats-traditionally the Christian Democrats' main rivals but currently their partners in a bipartisan national government-took heart from conservatives' losses even though their own support stagnated. Sunday's main winners were the Free Democrats, a small free-market party whose support of between 7.6% and 10.5% in the three regions was a marked improvement from 2004, and the Left party, which looked set to win over 20% of the vote in all three regions, exit polls suggested. The Left party, which includes many former East German Communists and is led by former Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine, is now strong enough to potentially form new state governments with Social Democrats and Greens, ousting Christian Democrat state premiers in Saarland and Thuringia. Sunday's results could energize the competition in what has been a low-key national election campaign so far. Germany's deep recession in the past year, and four years of leftright power-sharing under Ms. Merkel, had made politics in Western Europe's most populous country less partisan than usual. Ms. Merkel's camp remains far ahead of the Social Democrats in national opinion polls, indicating that she is likely to remain chancellor after Sept. 27-but what kind of government she might lead next is wide open. Ms. Merkel is aiming to win enough votes to drop the Social Democrats and form a new center-right government with the Free Democrats. But the Christian Democrats' poor showing on Sunday in Saarland and Thuringia, both of which the party has ruled for the past decade, highlights the fragility of the party's support and that Ms. Merkel's high personal popularity hasn't rubbed off on many of her conservative colleagues. Exit polls suggested the Christian Democrats won only around 31% of the vote in the eastern state of Thuringia on Sunday, down from 43% in the last state election in 2004. The party's vote in the western state of Saarland fell to 34.5%, according to the official preliminary result, down from over 47% in 2004. The Social Democrats, who favor a larger state role in the economy than conservatives, won about 18.5% of votes in Thuringia, according to exit polls, an improvement from 2004, and 24.5% in Saarland, according to preliminary results, down from 2004. Still, the Social Democrats' candidate for chancellor, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called the state elections a success for his party, saying the Christian Democrats' "dramatic losses" showed Germans don't want a right-leaning government. Ms. Merkel didn't comment on Sunday evening, but she had previously argued the state ballots would reflect local factors and thus weren't a signpost for the national election. ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
