Posted on 09/18/2005 11:45:50 AM PDT by anymouse
Exit polls showed conservative challenger Angela Merkel's party leading in German parliamentary elections Sunday but falling short of the majority she needed to form a center-right coalition as the nation's first female chancellor.
Gerhard Schroeder refused to concede defeat and said he could still theoretically remain in power if talks with other parties were successful.
"I feel myself confirmed in ensuring on behalf of our country that there is in the next four years a stable government under my leadership," he said to cheering supporters at his Social Democrat party headquarters.
But Merkel claimed her party received a mandate from voters to form a new coalition government to carry out her plan to mend frayed ties with the United States.
"What is important now is to form a stable government for the people in Germany, and we ... quite clearly have the mandate to do that," she said.
Both Schroeder and Merkel said they would talk to all parties except the new Left Party, a combination of ex-communists and renegade Social Democrats.
Sunday's vote centered on different visions of Germany's role in the world and how to fix its sputtering economy. Schroeder touted the country's role as a European leader and counterbalance to America, while Merkel pledged to reform the moribund economy and repair ties with Washington.
An exit poll by ZDF public television showed Merkel's Christian Democrats at 35.7 percent and the Social Democrats 33.6 percent. Merkel's preferred coalition partner — the pro-business Free Democrats — had 10.4 percent, while current Schroeder coalition partner Greens received 8.2 percent.
ARD public television showed near-identical results, with Merkel's party at 35.7 percent and the Social Democrats at 33.7 percent.
The Christian Democrats' projected totals were considerably worse than expected. Merkel's party consistently polled above 40 percent during the campaign.
The results open a period of uncertainty as the parties negotiate to form a government. Voters were choosing lawmakers for the 598-seat lower house of parliament, which elects the chancellor to head the government.
Had Merkel reached a majority with the Free Democrats, they would have formed a center-right government to push through her proposals to get the economy going and cut unemployment by making it easier for small firms to fire people, cutting payroll taxes and giving companies more flexibility to opt out of one-size-fits-all regional wage agreements.
If she does become chancellor, she likely will have to water down her program as she partners with a party to her left in order to hold 50 percent of the seats in parliament. Merkel's party already controls the upper house of parliament.
The most likely combination, analysts have said, is a "grand coalition" between Merkel's party and Schroeder's party. Most predictions were that Schroeder would not participate in such a government, but his defiant statements Sunday cast doubt on that.
Free Democrats leader Guido Westerwelle said his party would not work with the current government pair, the Social Democrats and Greens.
If the new parliament cannot elect a chancellor in three tries, President Horst Koehler could appoint a minority government led by the candidate with a simple majority.
Merkel's plan to patch up relations with Washington, which frayed after Schroeder's refusal to back the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, resonated with voters, as did her position that Turkey should not be allowed full membership in the 25-nation European Union.
"A country like Turkey just doesn't belong in the European community," said voter Torsten Quade, 41. "We're already going to let in countries like Romania and Bulgaria, and this is already too much because of how far behind they are."
But other voters said they supported Schroeder's party because he kept Germany out of the Iraq war and pushed for diplomacy to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear program. Germany is one of three nations representing the EU in talks with Tehran.
"When you have a son coming of military age, this makes it even more important to vote for a government that isn't eager to go to war," said Stefan Deutscher, a 38-year-old business consultant voting in Berlin.
Schroeder called for the election a year ahead of time in frustration at resistance to his attempts to fix Europe's biggest economy, as unemployment hit record highs in his seven years in power and growth was sluggish. His limited measures cutting taxes and long-term jobless benefits have been slow to show convincing results.
Danke
Leni
Clutching at the drapes ...
dingledanglers? :|
Hehehe...time to dust this off. Maybe we should ship this guy over to help with the recount that's sure to be coming...
KERRY...GORE...only speaking German...if the left cheats enough they think they'll win...probably happens in Europe doesn't always happen in America...that's probably one reason the left world-wide hate us so much...IMHO...it did happen during the 'toons yrs.
Shroeder: "SHE BETRAYED OUR COUNTRY!!! SHE PLAYS ON OUR FEARS!!!!"
Bitter, party of one. Bitter, your table is ready.
Wow. That is really a record to be proud of isn't it? If only we had let this guy handle the negotiations with al-Qaeda when they were getting ready to blow up the WTC. When the first "God is Great" Islamic nuclear missle rains down on Berlin, Schroeder my have some second thoughts on his strategy.
An SDP/CDU coalition with Merkel as Foreign Minister would be an improvement for German-U.S. relations.
And the dingledanglers will not be the only things hanging from the German voting cards.
There'll be dimpleddopplegangers, too.
Leni
There's no need to get snippy about it! ;^)
Sore Schroederman?
Merkel Ahead of Schröder, but Who Will Govern Germany?
From Der Spiegel, posted by Lessismore.
I hope Schroder makes a big mess so the American media can make fun of them like they did to us in 2000
Our House of Representatives has 435 seats by law. The CIA Factbook says U.S. population is 295.7 Million while Germany's is 82.4 Million.
So, U.S. has roughly 3.5 times more people than Germany, with a much smaller body of legislators.
In fact, having the equivalent of Germany's lower house of parliment would mean we would have 2,872 Representatives in Washington D.C.! Can you imagine?
NOTHING would get done! And it would be really expensive as all get out to support these windbags...
Somebody needs to give Gerhard Schicklgruber the jackboot in the heinie.
Merkel came very close to pulling off the coalition.
In Germany you don't need 50 percent to have a majority in parliament because the andere got 4 percent and they didn't win any seats.
Merkel/fdp got around 46 percent and 48 percent would have put them over the top in parliament.
300 seats wre needed they got 282, the seats in parliament were much closer than the percentage. 9 seats going from schroader coalition to merkel coalition and there is no hung parliament.
The question is whether the liberal judiciary can keep this FOOL-OF-A-POLITICIAN in office.
Sky News in the UK is reporting that one projection by a German TV network has Schroeder's SPD having the most votes when all votes are counted, giving him the first right to form a coalition.
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