German political parties and elections

[Laocoon]

CDU SPD Where's the alternativ???...

[Aeternitas]

I've been watching it on TV, it's a real circus... They said the CDU had gotten 35.6 % and the SPD 34.1 %.
Probably a coalition will have to be formed between parties to represent more than 50 % of seats in the Bundestag, but we still have to wait for more accurate results.

Also see here: http://www.wahlrecht.de

[Menydh]

So, with a coalition, is it still possible that the SPD repeats mandate?

[Phlegethon]

Another election is just around the corner.

After the election is before the election.

[Menydh]

A second round?

That would concentrate the votes on the two bigs.. even more.

[Aeternitas]

It's chaos.

Gerhard Schroeder refused to concede defeat and said he could still theoretically remain in power if talks with other parties were successful.

``I feel myself confirmed in ensuring on behalf of our country that there is in the next four years a stable government under my leadership,'' he said to cheering supporters at his Social Democrat party headquarters.

But Merkel claimed her party received a mandate from voters to form a new coalition government to carry out her plan to mend frayed ties with the United States.

``What is important now is to form a stable government for the people in Germany, and we ... quite clearly have the mandate to do that,'' she said.

Both Schroeder and Merkel said they would talk to all parties except the new Left Party, a combination of ex-communists and renegade Social Democrats.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5286784,00.html

Also here:
Parties Put the Spin on Election Results

[Menydh]

How's the NPD doing?

[Phlegethon]

Shitty, as expected. I hope the heads of the persons responsible for this mess will roll soon.

[Aeternitas]

I watched RTL for a bit and Schröder was speaking live from Berlin. He was not even able to start his speech for a while because of the cheering, whistling and applause...

I think the only way to get out of this mess is more mess. The entire system should fall.

[Laocoon]

Politicians can be happy. Somewhere it's, it's one more victory for Democracy over the german people.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Phlegethon

Shitty, as expected. I hope the heads of the persons responsible for this mess will roll soon.

What all politicians of every sign have in common is that they never accept to take responsibilities from their acts.

[Aeternitas]

Schröder did seem enthusiastic

I didn't listen to his whole speech because it got sickening, with all the people applausing and shouting at his usual bla bla blas about democracy and how he felt proud of the democratic culture () that won the struggle against the manipulation of the media.

Schröder thinks the CDU display arrogance to think they will have the power. He actually forsees being in charge for the next 4 years

Well the SPD could, in theory, form a coalition with the FDP and the Greens, but the FDP don't want such a coalition. The FDP and the CDU also don't have enough votes together to make it with their coalition. Predictios say there will have to be a CDU-SPD coalition. Let's see what happens next...

[Laocoon]

NPD : 3,5% ... The best score since 1969. They could hardly scored less than in 1969...

[Menydh]

Merkel Gains Narrow Lead in Tight Vote

Deutsche Welle
September 18, 2005

Triumphant victory poses, but no outright winner as yet

The first official preliminary returns show that the conservatives led by Merkel won more votes than Chancellor Schröder's SPD in Sunday's polls. But a clear winner is far from certain.


Merkel's opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) appeared to have scratched out a narrow election victory over Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) but crucially failed to secure the ruling majority they had sought.

The first official preliminary returns of the cliffhanger election showed that the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) took 35.2 percent of the vote while the SPD followed closely with 34.3 percent.

Merkel's preferred coalition partners, the free-market liberal FDP had a surprisingly good showing, grabbing 9.8 percent of the vote. The Left Party, an alliance of disgruntled SPD members and former communists, came in at 8.7 percent while the Greens clinched 8.1 percent.

According to the latest preliminary official count, the conservatives are also the strongest faction in parliament with 225 seats to the SPD's 222.

CDU, SPD both claim victory

Despite the failure of any single party or coalition to secure a majority, both Schröder and Merkel both immediately insisted they had each won a mandate to form the next government.

Chancellor Schröder said his party, energized by a come-from-behind result that beat most expectations, should be proud of the result.
For several minutes, the chancellor stood at the podium, unable to quiet the wild cheers and applause of the party faithful gathered at the Social Democrats' Berlin headquarters.

He clasped his hands above his head in a victory gesture and, after finally calming his supporters made a claim for four further years as chancellor.

"I am certain that there will be a government under my leadership in the next four years," Schröder said.

He faces serious hurdles, however. The coalition government his SPD formed with the Green party for seven years is no longer mathematically possible.

The SPD, however, has played a powerful game of catch-up from the early days of the campaign, when it trailed the CDU by close to 20 percentage points.

Traffic-light coalition?

Experts say the only possibility would be a so-called "traffic light" coalition with the SPD, Greens and the free-market liberal FDP, which surprised everyone by garnering 10.1 percent of the vote.

FDP leaders, however, said they would rather stay in opposition than join a government with Schröder and the Greens.
"We don't have the majority for the innovative, necessary reforms needed to change our country," said FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Gerhardt. "That holds us up and it holds the country up."

For weeks, the CDU and FDP had been planning a coalition government that would take an aggressive approach to trimming Germany's bloated welfare system and reforming the labor market to encourage investment and growth. With the CDU only winning 35.2 percent of the vote, such a coalition is now impossible.

"While Germans understand that they need fundamental economic reform, if they want to tackle unemployment, they don't want radical economic reform and don't want to give up their benefits," said Karen Donfried, senior director of the German Marshall Fund in Washington D.C. in an interview with DW-WORLD. "I think Schröder was able to play very well off of that."

Options limited

CDU leader Angela Merkel said her party, after claiming the majority share of the vote, has been given the job of forming a government. But her options are just as limited after an election night that surprised many Germans.
"I was astonished," said Oliver Suchy, at the SPD headquarters. "I never thought the CDU would have done so badly. I think in the last two weeks, people started realizing what the CDU program really meant and it was too radical for them."

The Social Democrats had slashed the CDU's early lead in half by last week. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder put in extra campaign speeches in a bid to sway undecided voters, reportedly about a quarter of the electorate, just days before the poll.

"Grand Coalition" possibility unfavorable

The big question remained whether Merkel would secure her preferred alliance or be forced into an awkward "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. Experts and industry heads have warned that such a coalition could halt necessary reforms through political infighting.

Merkel said she was willing to talk with "any democratic party" about coalition possibilities, no longer ruling out liaising with the SPD. The grand coalition would put her in the chancellery and likely mean the end of Schröder's political career.

Voter turnout slightly down on 2002

Tens of millions of Germans voted on Sunday but despite sunny weather across the country, voter turnout was slightly lower, at 78 percent of eligible voters, than in 2002, when 79.1 percent of the 62 million Germans eligible to vote turned out.

[source]

[Menydh]

Election Night Ticker

Deutsche Welle
September 18, 2005

Schröder and Merkel fought to the very end

As the results began pouring in on election night, DW-WORLD followed the ups and downs and the early stages of coalition negotiations in a live ticker. Here's a short summary of the main highlights.


15:43 UTC (5:43 pm local time): Suspense Builds
Polls opened across the country on Sept. 18 at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and were due to close at 1600 GMT (6:00 pm local time), with the first exit polls due shortly afterwards. Despite sunny weather across the country and the neck-and-neck race between the two prime candidates for chancellor -- Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel -- voter turnout was slightly lower than at the last general election in 2002. Six hours after polling stations opened, turnout was 41.9 percent, compared with 42.8 percent in 2002. The overall total voter turn-out in 2002 was 79.1 percent.

16:02 UTC: First Exit Results

Early exit results showed the distribution of votes according to the Infratest Dimap: Christian Democrats /Christian Social Union: 35,5, Social Democrats: 34, Greens: 8,5, Free Democrats: 10,5, The Left Party/ PDS: 7,5.
The division of the seats in Bundestag based on the exit polls: CDU/CSU: 221, SPD: 212, Greens: 53, FDP: 65, Left Party: 47

16:09 UTC: CDU Coalition in Question

After the early exit polls, Angela Merkel's preferred coalition between the CDU and FDP appears uncertain. Together the two parties only garner about 46 to 47.5 percent of the votes, slightly less than a combination of SPD, Greens and the Left Party/PDS with 49 to 50 percent.

Although the CDU with chancellor candidate Angela Merkel came out of the election as the strongest party with 35.5 percent according to exit polls gathered by Infratest Dimap, the results are not enough to give the so-called black-yellow coalition (CDU and FDP) a majority in the German parliament or Bundestag. The results also reflect a loss for the CDU compared to the 2002 federal elections, when the party received 38.5 percent of the overall vote.

16:22 UTC: A Grand Coalition?

With the conservatives the top vote-getters, Angela Merkel seems likely to replace Gerhard Schröder, who has ruled Germany for seven years. But without enough support to govern together with the FDP, Merkel could well be forced to share power with Schröder's SPD in Germany's first "grand coalition" since the 1960s. It is a grouping markets fear would doom CDU plans to push through aggressive reforms of Germany's labor market and tax system, but one which up to a third of Germans say they prefer because it would keep many of the social aspects of the SPD on the agenda.

16:26 UTC: Votes Still Coming In

Although the predictions in Germany are generally fairly accurate, a provisional official result will not be known until after midnight local time (2200 GMT), and even then the absolute final vote count will not come until Oct. 2 when a by-election takes place in Dresden, following the death of one of the candidates.
Here's a run-down of the results so far as published by the Infratest Dimap open poll closing at 6:22 pm local time: Christian Democrats /Christian Social Union (CDU): 35.8 Social Democrats (SPD): 33.7 Greens: 8,2 Free Democrats (FDP): 10,3 The Left Party/ PDS: 8.
The division of the seats in Bundestag based on the exit polls: CDU/CSU: 223 SPD: 210 Greens: 51 FDP: 64 Left Party: 40.

Compared to the last federal elections in 2002, both of the two mainstream parties, CDU and SPD, watched as their support among voters tumbled.
The CDU lost 2.7 percent compared to the last election, whereas the SPD lost 4.8 percent.
The smaller parties, which often make up the second vote on the ballot (Germany allows two votes per ballot), played a significant role again this year. The Greens lost slightly less than a half percentage point while the FDP which campaigned as a potential coalition partner with the CDU watched as its votes grew 2.9 percent to one of its highest results: 10.3 percent. The introduction of the new Left Party which merges allienated SPD members and the successor to the East German communist party, PDS, had a significant impact on the division of votes. With 8 percent, the party headed by former SPD member Oscar Lafontaine and former PDS chief Gregor Gysi pulled a good slice of votes away from the SPD.

Who is the Winner?

It's not clear yet which party has come out the real winner of this year's early parliamentary elections. Despite being the strongest single party in terms of votes, the CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU were not able to guarantee a majority with the preferred coalition partner FDP. On the other hand, the SPD and Greeens lost the election when it comes to votes. But if they join with the Left Party/ PDS to form a so-called Red-Red-Green coalition, Gerhard Schröder could remain chancellor. Will that happen, or will the SPD join with the CDU to form a grand coalition with Merkel as chancellor. Much is still uncertain as the vote counting continues.
In terms of pure numbers, a grand coalition is the most likely. But when it comes to content and a common platform, a government made up of SPD and CDU is the most difficult. Only 36 percent of CDU supporters could imagine endorsing a grand coalition, according to German public broadcaster ZDF. On the other side, some 52 percent of SPD voters said a coalition with CDU was a feasible alternative to the current government with the Greens.

17:00 UTC: A Traffic Light Coalition?

SPD Party Chef Franz Müntefering applauded his party for the hard work during the intense campaign. "Up to the very end of this intense campaign we worked hard and managed to convince voters: The country wants Gerhard Schröder as chancellor," he told an elated party headquarters in Berlin. At the same time, Müntefering rejected a possible coalition with the Left Party. A traffic light coalition – red, green, yellow – with the Greens and FDP, on the other hand, is a possibility, he said.
FDP party chef Guido Westerwelle brushed aside the possibility of joining a coalition with the SPD and Greens. "We are not open for a traffic light constellation," he said referring to the party's red, green and yellow colors