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German election results - started Sunday, May 6, 2012
May 6, 2012 - 4:58pm
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German state election leaves Merkel's party looking for new partnersExit polls in Schleswig-Holstein show chancellor's ruling Christian Democrats will have to find new ruling allies in region
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/06/germany-state-elections-merk...
The demise of the centre-right government which has run the state since 2009 is significant not least because the federal coalition is made up of the same parties.
Voters' rejection of the alliance is seen as sending an important signal to the central government and will increase pressure on Merkel to end her collaboration with the FDP.
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Voter turnout was at its lowest level since the 1980s, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with the state's soaring debt and high unemployment levels.
The poll, the runup to which was dominated by those issues, has been described as something of a dress rehearsal for an even more crucial election next Sunday in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state and political bellwether.
While Merkel's position at the national level remains unchallenged and her personal popularity high due to her resolute stand over the eurozone crisis, results in Europe's two key elections in France and Greece on Sunday are likely to pose the tougher tests for the leader who has attracted much resentment outside of Germany, largely due to her strict adherence to unpopular austerity measures, and is looking increasingly isolated.
Nicholas Sarkozy's defeat in France means she has lost her main eurozone ally.
And if, as has been predicted, Greece elects a Eurosceptic parliament, she may be forced to considerably water down her stance on the fiscal pact.
Who is Germany's Francois Hollande?
At the moment, nobody.
And this result is a setback for the SPD. They led in all the last pre-election polls in Schleswig-Holstein, yet still managed not only to lose but to make almost no gainst in the popular vote at all...finishing below 30% again. How the hell could they blow what should have been an easy victory in that state?
The Pirate Party took over 8%...it's hard to see what the growth of that particular party will lead to, since they seem to pretty much be a party of eccentric twenty-something libertarian males. Not sure who they'd fit in with...they wouldn't be uptight enough to suit the CDU and they'd probably be too sexist to fit in in a SPD-Green arrangement(to my knowledge, women pretty much don't vote Piraten...although I could be wrong about that).
Sadly, Die Linke fell below the 5% threshold, so there won't be a left alternative to the SPD in the state legislature for awhile.
Seems to be, overall, a vote to keep the Schleswig-Holstein state government from doing much of anything at all.
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15933087,00.html
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15933038,00.html
How big of them.
Germany Signals It Will Permit Small Steps to Promote Growth in Europehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/world/europe/europe-opting-for-growth-...
NorthRhine-Westphalia:
Social Democrats (SPD) 39.1%, up 4.6% from 34.5%
Christian Democrats (CDU) 26.3%, down 8.3% from 34.6%
Greens 11.3%, down 0.8% from 12.1%
Free Democrats (FDP) 8.6%, up 1.9% from 6.7%
Pirates 7.8%, up 6.2% from 1.6%
The Left, 2.5%, down 3.1% from 5.6%
The Christian Democrats (CDU) earned the lowest result in their history in this election.
Kraft had argued the need for public savings but also focused on jobs, education and nursery places, while Roettgen took aim at the SPD contender for clocking up public debt.
Merkel reeling as voters take revenge for hardline policies
Congratulations to the SPD for the North Rhine-Westphalia result, but they should consider themselbes forewarned:
If their counterparts in the federal wing of the party do what the pundits want and become the junior partner(after the next election or before)in a "grand coalition" with the CDU-CSU, you will see a dramatic revival in support for Die Linke. Joining a federal grand coalition would mean that the SPD had forever abandoned any and all of its policies and was now in full and permanent agreement with the CDU on everything. It would never be possible for them to run to the left of the CDU in any future election.
The voters would never forgive them for that choice.
(edited to clarify that I was referring to the federal SPD, ont the North Rhine-Westphalian wing that won Sunday's election.
The SPD's position in the German parliament has been reinforced.
Who are the 20 new Pirate MLAs?
Ages: 54, 29, 40, 31, 44, 36, 39, 48, 42, 45, 40, 54, 50, 42, 33, 33, 52, 51, 34, 45: average 42.1. Not the youth movement I expected. Three women, 17 men!
Past activities:
But that's only a couple of them. One is a police officer whose priority is safety laws. Most of them don't seem to have any coherent objectives.
I think that they basically appeal to the voters who want an "anti-political" party to vote for, to give the other parties a temporary bloody nose without actually taking the risk ot giving support to a real alternative.
The Piraten will probably flourish for two or three more years, then people will get bored with them.
I could count ony 2 ties. Though one was orange, so I guess it doesn't count.
Whoops sorry