Posted on 09/18/2005 12:12:37 AM PDT by alessandrofiaschi
Voting began in Germany's closely fought election today with millions of undecided voters holding the key to a result that will have major implications for economic reform in Europe.
Angela Merkel, a Christian Democrat (CDU) chancellor, is expected to emerge as Germany's first woman chancellor, displacing Gerhard Schroeder who has led Germany for the past seven years at the head of a centre-left government of Social Democrats and Greens.
A provisional result is expected to be announced in the early hours of Monday morning. The final opinion polls published on Friday gave Merkel's centre-right coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) a slim lead in a race it once dominated.
High stakes For Germany and the rest of Europe, the stakes in the election are high. Some five million Germans are out of work, the country's pensions system is in crisis, its public finances are overstretched and the economy that once drove growth in Europe is now acting as a drag on the rest of the continent.
Analysts say that if Germany succeeds in pushing through reforms, they could be a model for change in the rest of Europe. Surveys show that most Germans believe the system needs changing but they are deeply uncertain about how far the changes should go and how the burden should be shared.
Schroeder's own "Agenda 2010" reforms to welfare and labour market rules have been the most ambitious attempt to overhaul the social security system in decades. They have been attacked by the conservatives and by some commentators as not going far enough. The reforms were bitterly resented by voters. - Reuters
Preliminary Results here:
http://medienkritik.typepad.com/
Uffff, it was in general. Plese let us see the results.
Thanks, Julie.
So let me get this right Heartsong said screw the exit polls and lets see real votes.....and you report him to the Moderator?
You done host to many live threads do you.....they tend to be free flowing.
What turnip truck did you just fall off of?
Sweet! (I think ...)
The magic number is 299. ZDF has CDU/CSU/FDP coming in at around 292.
Does anyone know when we can expect some real numbers to come out?
The same one that the liberals fell off who said the tricameral win across America was really a win for the Rats.
Yeah, exit polls.
I think I wait for the actual results before breaking out the champagne.
The Electoral sysmem admits a sort of majority's premium. We will see...
As usual Poll a product of leftist media bias.
Expect the final results in around 6 hours, but the number of 292 will not change much. SPD and CDU both lost votes, the winners are the liberals (FDP) and the commies.
This will end in a great coalition between CDU (Christian Demokratic) and SPD (Socialists).
Heh heh.
You want to wager on that?
I cannot believe that the damn PDS communists are at 10%. What a joke! Germany is utterly hopeless. I am so glad that I will be leaving here and going back to the States soon. This many votes for outright communists is sickening.
Not necessary. If CDU-CDU will be aroung 38-39 she could have a majority premium (jointly with Liberals).
The number of seats is not fixed. If more candidates win their local election than seats are won by their party there will be additional seats in parliament.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.