3 German State Elections.
In traditional conservative stronghold Baden-Württemberg which went over to the dark side (Green led coalition with SPD) in the last election, the CDU, this new Eurosceptic party AfD and the Free Democrats have won a majority of seats. The 3 parties can form a center-right government if they are willing to cooperate.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, same result, the Socialist/Green government lost it’s majority, 3 center-right parties have the majority.
In Saxony-Anhalt which was governed by a CDU/SPD grand coalition, the CDU and Afd just barely have the majority, CDU/SPD is not a majority together any longer, add the Greens and they still aren’t, the communists are the only other party with seats, no FDP seats. Don’t see an alternative to CDU/Afd coalition there.
So the question is are the CDU and FDP willing to govern with the AfD or are they gonna be a-holes?
Thanks Impy. On the CNBC stream on my Roku, Merkel’s election losses were framed as modest, since even in Saxony, the 25 percent support for opposition was said to mean 75 percent support. Text is similar here, not sure if the vid plays (old CPU):
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/14/merkel-down—but-not-out—in-germany.html
Governments will be formed excluding the AfD Party.
That was already known before the elections and it is SOP when one party is considered ‘racist’ or ‘extreme right wing’ like AfD.
In Saxony-Anhalt, the eastern German state where AfD came in second yesterday, the CDU (Christian Democrats) will ally with the third ranking party Die Linke (former East German Communists) to form a government without AfD.
After the smoke cleared with the election yesterday....this coalition thing has put the whole order of things into a tailspin.
Baden-Wurttemberg: The Greens have been told that for a CDU-partnership to occur, the top Green guy (Kretschschmann) will have to retire (he’s the whole focus-point of the Greens in the state). Plan B? The Greens would have to partner with the SPD and FDP....the FDP has strongly hinted that they won’t be agreeable. The odds of the Greens being forced out of their leadership even though they won the election? Better than fifty-percent chance.
Pfalz: If the SPD cannot get the CDU to the table and agree with a coalition deal....the only possibility is a SPD-Green Party-FDP deal. Again, the FDP is hinting they may not be agreeable.
Sachsen: The CDU is stuck. Either partner up with the Linke Party (an impossible team) or partner with the SPD, and Greens.
In the end, the AfD percentage in each state has created a very tough coalition-building atmosphere and reasonable doubt that things can be worked out (if not.....another election within 90 days).