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
That "very ugly" was the 1970s in America?
Oh man! I wish I could bring my Mom over, but she doesn't want to. My sister and family are there so she doesn't want to leave, she is also almost 71 years old and just doesn't want to move anymore :(
Ich wuenschte ich koennte meine Mutter rueber bringen, aber sie will nicht. Meine Schwester und Familie wohnen noch dort somit will sie nicht weg, sie ist fast 71 Jahre alt und will nicht mehr umziehen :(
Ich schreibe das in beiden Sprachen da es am oeffentlichen Board ist ;)
"Center-left???" I'd hate to see what they consider far left...
Well...a certain lady by the name of Margaret Thatcher did the same in Britain some 20+ years ago...
That's a scary bit of deja vu.
Hang in there. Worst case you can emigrate. But you're right, this sucks.
YIKES
Only solution is CDU / FDP / Green
Part of me wants Merkel to win, part of me wants Schroeder to win, and watch Germany enter a recession so they learn why socialism doesn't work.
---
Yeah, I know what you mean. You want these people to be saved, but you also want them to learn how stupid their system is so that they never try it again. But it never works -- even when they hit rock bottom (e.g. USSR, etc.) they never learn -- instead they whine that socialism/communism/stupidism wasn't "implemented properly."
:P
Once again for those who haven't been paying attention and/or have no idea what they're talking about.
The Left (Lafontaine/Gysi) will not be in any government. All the parties refuse to speak to them, they refuse to speak to the SPD (who hate them as traitors) and they intend to stay in the Bundestag as a leftist opposition. Forget them for now.
The FDP have ruled out any coalition with Red-Green.
The Greens have ruled out any coalition with CDU-FDP.
The CDU is forced to ally with the SPD, but Schröder is playing hard to get.
I don't know what Schröder is planning. but he was very euphoric and combative yesterday evening - Westerwelle implied he'd had a bit too much celebratory champagne. Perhaps today he will be more conciliatory.
What torpedoed Merkel was 1)Kirchhof with his flat-tax vision; most people, me included, worked out that this would effectively mean tax increases for them, on top of the 2% hike in VAT; and 2) Stoiber, who upset the eastern Germans with denigratory comments.
OTOH, if the Left party hadn't been in existence, Schröder would have won triumphantly: the Left took the crucial winning votes off the SPD, so it could have been worse. Almost all these votes were cast in the former GDR. It really is the GDR that decides the elections these days (and also causes most of the country's problems). We want the Wall back...
See my post # 309
See my post # 309
Is there a danger that Schröder will get an agreement from the Linkspartei that they will support his government in crucial votes while not being in it? I know there's no love lost between Schröder and Lafontaine but Schröder might want to retain the Chancellorship enough to put that aside.
Possible, but unlikely. It's politically controversial, indeed suicidal. The SPD would probably revolt against it.
I have considered that Schröder might be bluffing: planning to extract maximum pain from the CDU and yet ally his party to the CDU from a position of strength, and then quitting while he's ahead. It's all rather mysterious...
Today's negotiations will maybe shed more light on the matter.
I think the new government - whatever it will be (two possibilities now today: Black-Yellow-Green or Grand Coalition) won´t last longer than 1 1/2 years.
No, they are more likely to go to the CDU, AFAIK.
Bavaria is the more right-wing and conservative state in Germany. He must have fallen in with a strange crowd, as I've never seen anything like this myself. Capri pants? Intimidated by Turks. Very unusual. Maybe your son needs to get out more.
Young Germans are usually fairly indistinguishable in appearance from young Americans I've seen on TV. They almost always wear jeans, baseball caps, sweatshirts/T-shirts.
Either that or his ego is so big he thinks he can form a minority government (SPD/Greens, no CDU) and browbeat his way through crucial votes.
How much can the delayed voting in ??Dresden?? affect the outcome? It seems the only possible winners there are SPD & Links - I have a really bad feeling that this Wahlkreis will tip the scales farther . . .
Theoretically, the SPD and CDU/CSU can be equally strong after the District 160 vote. Realistically, the CDU/CSU will be the strongest party in the parliament and therefore Mrs. Merkel will be Chancellor under a Grand Coalition.
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