In Germany's Sept. 27 national elections voters solidly backed Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has demonstrated leadership in coping with the economic crisis and diplomatic challenges. By winning 33.8 percent of the vote, her Christian Democrats (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), managed to remain as the No. 1 political group. In contrast, the Social Democrats (SPD) received just 23 percent of the vote — its worst showing in the postwar period.
The SPD, a member of the four-year grand coalition with the CDU-CSU, now appears to be suffering from an identity crisis. Following conservatives' decisive win in European Union parliamentary elections four months ago, the SPD's defeat underlines the difficulty faced by European social democrats.
The German coalition government raised the value-added tax and the age at which people become eligible to begin receiving pension benefits, while lowering the corporate tax. Social democrats cannot pursue policies for the socially weak under EU rules that put a cap on financial deficits, and current economic conditions dictate policies friendly to the corporate sector, supposedly to increase the size of the "economic pie."
The election results show that many German voters are dissatisfied with the CDU-CSU and the SPD. Three smaller parties — the Free Democrats (FDP), the Left Party, comprising former East German Communists and SDP deserters, and the Greens — each won more than 10 percent of the vote for a total of some 37 percent. Germany appears to be moving from a two-party system to a more diverse system.
The CDU-CSU will end the grand coalition and form a coalition with the probusiness, promarket FDP — which received 14.6 percent of the vote — as together they have a parliamentary majority.
The election campaign lacked a focal issue, but one likely policy change by the new coalition will be to scrap the phaseout of aging nuclear power plants. Another result will be that Ms. Merkel, with a high approval rate of some 75 percent, will have increased political influence in the EU.
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