Merkel’s CDU Gets Worst Post-War Result as Greece Derails VoteBy Brian Parkin
May 10 (
Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party plunged to its worst result since World War II in Germany’s most populous state, losing control of parliament’s upper house in Berlin, as voters punished her reversal on aid for Greece.
With Merkel’s Christian Democrats unexpectedly beaten into second place in a state election in North Rhine-Westphalia, the way is open for the opposition Social Democrats to take control of the state government in Dusseldorf, television projections showed. If confirmed, that would rob Merkel of her majority in the upper chamber, the Bundesrat, undermining her ability to cut taxes and extend the lifespan of nuclear-power plants.
Officials in Merkel’s CDU blamed the party’s showing on German loans for Greece of as much as 22.4 billion euros ($28.8 billion) passed by parliament on May 7 in the face of public opposition. Merkel was criticized at home and abroad for first refusing to rush to aid Greece, then pressing lawmakers to back Germany’s contribution to a 110 billion-euro lifeline.
“Merkel is vulnerable,” Almut Moeller, head of European policy at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said in an interview. “After her record of dithering over help for Greece, she really needs to make a show now of strong, resolute policy in Brussels to help stem the crisis from spreading further. The last thing the euro-zone needs at this point is weak German leadership.”
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The opposition Social Democrats took 34.5 percent and their traditional allies in the Green Party won 12.4 percent, enough to form a coalition government.
The anti-capitalist Left Party got 5.5 percent, winning seats in the state assembly for the first time. .........(more)
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