Posted on 09/20/2004 4:25:13 AM PDT by Truth666
State of Saxony - results : Christian Democratic Union: 41.1% (-15.8%) 55
Party of Democratic Socialism: 23.6% (+1.4%) 31
Social Democratic Party: 9.8% (-0.9%) 13
National Democratic Party: 9.2% (+7.8%) 12 Free Democratic Party: 5.9% (+4.8%) 7
Greens: 5.1% (+2.5%)
There were elections yesterday also in the state of Brandeburg (around Berlin). ex-communist also second at 28.0% (+4.7%), behind the SPD 31.9% (-7.4%). The Christian Democratic Union went below 20%.
East Germany is finally going through what all the other Eastern European countries went through 10+ years ago.
Each of those nations - which are now prospering economically, went through an unstable period where parts of the population flirted with the far right and far left beofre the necessary reforms were made and began to have an effect.
The East of Germany has been given a $1.5 trillion pacifier and the straightjacket beaurocracy of a Western Germany focused on stability rather than growth.
They needed a 1950s style economic liberalism, not a nanny state focused on keeping everyone in place.
Now that the West is no longer in the position to keep paying, the East - which had been kept in a semi-communist state of dependency - is getting politically radical.
But, the debate is on in this country and there is a good chance the necessary reforms in the East will be made and perhaps it will even rub off on the West.
I for one am keeping my fingers crossed and thumbs pressed.
Look, I certainly don't want to cut "neo-Nazis" any slack, but I know nothing about Ger. politics. What do these parties stand for? Are then indeed merely new incarnations of the Nazis, or are these perjorative terms used by the leftist German (and American) media?
Example : Horst Mahler, a former RAF terrorist and now one of the NPD leaders, came to Beirut in 2001, to participate in a congress of holocaust denial, in a quarter controlled by the Hisbollah.
Example : Horst Mahler, a former RAF terrorist and now one of the NPD leaders, came to Beirut in 2001, to participate in a congress of holocaust denial, in a quarter controlled by the Hisbollah.
Ugh. The worst sort.
In Saxony, the Christian Democrats lost their absolute majority. They are still the largest party, and should be able to form a ruling coalition.
Saxony raw adj seats rounded
Christian Democrats 41.1 43.4 52.08 52
Social Democrats 9.8 10.3 12.42 12
Free Democrats 5.9 6.2 7.48 8
Greens 5.1 5.4 6.46 6
Socialists 23.6 24.9 29.90 30
National Democrats 9.2 9.7 11.66 12
94.7 120 120
From my calculations, the Christian Democrats will be awarded 52 seats of the 120 seat state government. I believe they can form a ruling coalition with the Free Democrats, whom I think will be awarded 8 seats, even though this is only 50 percent of the seats, because - being the largest party - they have a kind of tie-breaker. I also think the Social Deomcrats will acquiesce to this coalition, on the basis that it will keep the National Democrats out of the ruling coalition.
In Brandenburg, the current Social Democrat / Christian Democrat "grand coalition of the center" will be able to continue to govern.
My advice to the National Democratic and the German People's Parties is to merge under the name "People's Party," or "Populist Party." There are several, fine parties of this orientation in Europe. They tend to be conservative, and reflect rural and nationalist sentiments. By moving a bit toward the center, such a party would be sure to gain the 5 percent threshold needed for representation in government, under the rules of Germany. In addition, they should be able to muscle their way into any ruling coalition formed from the parties of the center-right and right.
In our country, the social conservatives, populists, free-market liberals and center-right are all mostly to be found in the Republican Party, which is why it is the majority party. (In contrast, the socialists, greens and center-left are all mostly to be found in the Democratic Party.)
In our country, effective politicians are able to unite the factions within their party during the campaign. In Europe, effective politicians do this after the election, when the neither the center-right or center-left party gets an absolute majority, and one of them has to put together a ruling coalition.
Unfortunately for Herr Schroeder, when he made a coalition with the Greens, he doomed his government (and Germany) for failure. This is why the Conservative Party of Canada was so smart to acquiesce to a minority government of the Liberal Party only, rather than force the Liberal Party into a coalition with the (socialist) New Democratic Party.
(1) Christian Democrats - like US Republican-lite.
(2) Social Democrats - like US Democrats, but more admittedly socialist in their agenda.
(3) New Democrats - are truly neo-Nazi, in that they specifically support the deportation of legal immigrants, are aggressively pro-Palestinian in their sympathies and routinely connect Israel and the US to all the world's ills.
(4) Free Democrats - they are basically like American RINOs, good on economic policy and degenerates on social policy.
(5) Democratic Socialists - essentially doctrinaire Communists, like the Workers' World Party in the US.
(6) Greens - like the Greens in the US, only more so.
Ugh. Doesn't sound like a good choice no matter whom you go with.
You nailed it.
I'd hardly describe all of the the Eastern European countries as prospering for instance Poland has about 19% unemployment
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