Posted on 09/18/2005 12:40:14 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Germany was thrown into political chaos on Sunday evening as the early federal election delivered a hung parliament and both chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel, his conservative challenger, claimed victory and the right to form the next government.
While Ms Merkel's opposition Christian Democratic Union obtained the largest number of votes by a small margin with 35.2 per cent, according to early estimates, it failed to muster a majority for a conservative-liberal coalition with the smaller Free Democratic Party.
Recent investing newsPost-Enron Era Unlucky for Ex-Tyco Execs 'Heaven' Beats the Devil at Box Office ExxonMobil secures Java oilfield rights BPI chief executive quits as probes continue Both sides claim victory after German election
Despite the CDU's poor performance markedly lower than at the election of 2002 and well below recent opinion poll ratings - Ms Merkel still seemed likely to become chancellor, though she might have to govern with her rival Social Democratic Party in the first "grand coalition" since 1966. "We have the difficult task of building a government ahead of us," Ms Merkel said. "But we will throw all our strengths in it because we must go down a path of reforms."
Roland Koch, the CDU state premier of Hessen, quashed rumours that the party's regional barons would challenge her leadership.
The poll was a blow, too, for chancellor Gerhard Schröder, whose gamble in calling a ballot one year ahead of schedule seemed to have misfired as his party was credited with 33.9 per cent of the votes, its worst result since 1990.
Yet the chancellor did not concede defeat.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Wasn't the Schroeder Govt and the SPD laughing at our last two elections claiming how much better theirs were????
Yes. Now this should be interesting. I wonder if we should give them advice. They were so helpful during our 2000 election and Florida's voting circus.
Gerhard Schröder = Al Gore
Maybe it's because something is wrong with their polling booths, ha ha....
Germany...meet Chad.
The German people still waiting for a new Fuhrer to lead them. Once he appears, they will all line up behind him.
Yes, but they will call him "Iman."
LOL.
They sure were.
Now we get to take the bag of popcorn and watch this show unfold.
Schroeder's already claimed the role of Al Gore so it should be a lot of fun from our end.
This seems familiar to me somehow.
C'mon Germany...get your sh!t together and show us how a real election should run.
Did they use those pesky punch cards?
They are not yet sick enough to take their medicine. A few more lost years are in store for them.
"The German people still waiting for a new Fuhrer to lead them. Once he appears, they will all line up behind him."
Not gonna happen, IMHO. If they didn't fall in behind Georg Haider, I don't think they can be turned.
Besides, Germany's entire warrior class was wiped out in WWII.
I won't worry about that until the German Nationalists dig up the Blood Flag and the Spear of Destiny.
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