German elections blow for Merkel

Source: BBC News, Berlin

German elections blow for Merkel
By Tristana Moore
BBC News, Berlin

A close ally of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered a dramatic electoral setback in the key state of Hesse's regional elections.

(...)

Defeat in Hesse for Chancellor Merkel's conservative party would be a political earthquake, as these regional elections are being seen as a big test for the chancellor ahead of next year's federal election.

Running for his third term in office, Mr Koch provoked a storm of protest by focusing on youth crime and calling for tough penalties against young offenders with immigrant backgrounds.

In the end, the highly controversial and divisive campaign backfired as many voters turned their backs on the conservatives.

Meanwhile, Ms Ypsilanti, the daughter of a trade union official, won over voters by talking about local issues like education and a minimum wage.

...

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7211589.stm

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The main outcome of the German state elections today (Hesse and Lower Saxony) is that the new Left party, already represented in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag), has become a steady force to reckon with. As "successor" of the old communist party, they were already very strong in the East (up to 30 plus percent and in coalition with the SPD in Berlin) ever since the unification. In the West, however, a party to the left of the SPD could never be firmly established. With more than 8% in the last federal election, and by jumping the 5 percent hurdle in all state elections ever since, this seems to have changed profoundly. It remains to be seen how the somewhat but not all the way leftists in SPD and Greens will deal with this.


Final results:

Hesse

CDU: 36.8% (42 seats), -12%
SPD: 36.7% (42 seats), +7.6%
Greens: 7.5% (9 seats), -2.6%
FDP: 9.4% (11 seats), +1.5%
Left: 5.1% (6 seats), +5.1% (previously not represented)

Lower Saxony

CDU: 42.5 (68 seats), -5.8%
SPD: 30.3 (48 seats), -3.1%
Greens: 8.2 (12 seats), +0.6%
FDP: 8.0 (13 seats), -0.1%
Left: 7.1 (11 seats), +6.6% (previously not represented)

Source: www.spiegel.de

see also Deutsche Welle article at:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3091972,00.html

Angela Merkel must surely regret the infamous pig roast.

"German voters blow Merkel"

There is a message of Empire and World Government. The Germans aren't any happier about the EU with no rights as the French. It is stolen democracy.

;)

riddance!

anotherone bites the dust...

boom boom boom...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/07/19/BUSH.TMP&o=0

Very funny. Seems she didn't appreciate being pandered to.

I worried about this woman being good for Germany since she had the same policies as Bush. Privitization, family values, Faith Based, etc.

Cha Cha rebuffs Chen Chen's advances.

Of course the orangutans are quite a bit smarter than Merkel and Bush.

Hopefully France will see the light soon!

It's world grab for power to remove democracy.

to

"Election blow for German premier"

I wonder if someone thought this was less ambiguous?


(Just checked again and saw that they apparently deleted the story quoted in the OP and redirected the link to an updated version with the different title.)

Empire news.

...but I've noticed that recently, the labor parties in Europe actually end up doing more to cut back government than their Conservative counterparts, which tend to focus on populist issues (anti-trade, anti-immigration).

the whole set of neo-liberal policies, in addition to anything that might bring profit or gain to corporations and high income earners, were primary concerns of the right wing government in Hesse.

The SPD candidate, Ypsilanti, has promised to immediately reverse the introduction of tuition fees for students in Hesse, cooperate with unions and other states to introduce a legal minimum wage, and promote renewable energies via government programs; she personally opposes the cut-backs in social security aka "Hartz 4" reforms that were introduced by former SPD chancellor Schröder. So, no, I don't think that what is usually labelled "cutting back government" is a major concern of SPD, Greens, and the Left party in Hesse - on the contrary.

The "populist" or rather xenophobic and racist campaign by Mr Koch was what got him this job in the first place. He brazenly tried it in 1999, and to everyone's big surprise, it was a great success, in a state that is traditionally rather liberal. This time they knew they were going to lose, but apparently hoped to tilt the result a little by trying the "foreigners are criminals" or "the criminals are foreigners" stick again. Watch the photo on election day in front of a half-timbered house in his home town to get an idea of what kind of squares he tries to appeal to. But he is way out of touch with union workers, urban liberals, and probably (hopefully) the vast majority of the younger generation.

Mr. Koch:


Despite his big loss today, his career has certainly not ended. Maybe he won't become chancellor now, as some had expected, but I'm sure there will always be a place for him in any right wing government on the federal level ...

Good evening, fraulein!

My German fiancee votes SPD.

couldn't help but laugh.

don't grow up too soon, pittpoligraduate, it's only been a month since you finished. i have to keep reminding myself that...

Koch Slumps in Hesse Vote as Immigration Campaign Backfires
Spiegel Online International, cro/Reuters/dpa

(...)

The Hesse election has led to a stalemate between the two big parties there and the picture has been confused by the success of the new Left Party, which won 5.1 percent of the vote. Complex coalition talks are now expected and it's unclear whether Koch will remain in power or be ousted by his SPD challenger Andrea Ypsilanti. One possible scenario would be a "grand coalition" pairing the SPD and the CDU, but Ypsilanti has said that such an alliance would be dependent on Koch's departure.

But a gloomy Koch, who only a few months ago seemed assured of winning a new term in the state he has ruled since 1999, sounded like the loser on Sunday. "We didn't mobilize our own supporters enough," Koch said. "This is not easy for me personally."

In a separate election in the north-western state of Lower Saxony, CDU Premier Christian Wulff held on to power, but also saw his support fall from five years ago. Wulff's victory had been widely expected, but the vote in Hesse was seen as an important test for Merkel ahead of the next federal election in September 2009.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531400,00.html

Koch Gets Face Slapped for 'Nasty' Campaign
Spiegel Online International

Roland Koch reaped what he sowed, say German newspapers after the Hesse state governor slumped in Sunday's regional election in the wake of his divisive campaign on youth crime and immigration. The Hesse vote shows Germany is shifting to the left -- bad news for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

(...)

German media commentators said the vote is a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel and a slap in the face for Koch, who was punished for his controversial campaign focus on youth crime and immigrants. Koch and his party have led the state since 1999.

(...)

Mass-circulation daily Bild writes:

"The Hesse election must be a shock for Angela Merkel which will reverberate for a long time to come. The chancellor must ask herself how a left-wing member of the SPD, who was even sniggered at in her own party, managed to inflict so much damage on a political heavyweight like Roland Koch. Angela Merkel will have to examine whether she made mistakes herself."

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes:

"This was surely mainly an anti-Roland Koch election. But that motivation only reinforced the predominant leftward shift that has been going on in Germany for a long time. There's been a majority of left-wing parties in the Bundestag for a considerable amount of time now, except that they're not yet in a position to govern together -- just like in the Hesse state assembly now. At least the Left Party, which managed to scrape into the Hesse parliament, will prevent Koch from clinging to power with the help of the liberal Free Democrats. That is an achievement."

...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531422,00.html