Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

By TONY CZUCZKA
.c The Associated Press

 
BERLIN (AP) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats won sharp gains in two German state elections Sunday, but a massive vote hemorrhage by the Greens weakened the national governing coalition.

The Greens appeared hurt most directly by their pugnacious Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, who touched off a national uproar by accusing a leading Christian Democrat of pandering to neo-Nazis by saying he was proud to be German.

Despite the emotion surrounding the patriotism debate, the elections brought no significant changes in either state legislature.

Baden-Wuerttemberg's two-time governor Erwin Teufel fended off a strong challenge by Social Democratic candidate Ute Vogt, who led the party to their best showing in 29 years in Germany's richest state and a conservative stronghold.

The Christian Democrats won 45 percent of the vote, a gain of just 3 percent over five years ago, compared with the Social Democrat's surge to about 33 percent from 25 percent five years ago.

``I can hardly remember a party making such a jump anywhere,'' Vogt said as results for the southwestern state of 10 million were tallied.

The Social Democrats won 44.5 percent of the vote in Rhineland-Palatinate state, gaining from 40 percent five years ago and strengthening incumbent Social Democratic governor Kurt Beck for a fresh-five-year term. The Christian Democrats reckoned with a 36 percent result, a loss of 3 percent, in the smaller state bordering Luxembourg, Belgium and France.

But it was shifts among the smaller parties that gave rise to political calculations as Germany heads to national elections next year.

The tiny pro-business Free Democratic Party finished strong enough to retain their position as governing partner in both states, with small losses.

The elections would have been straight good news for the Social Democrats if it weren't for the poor showing of the Greens, who lost a mighty one-third of the vote compared to elections five years ago. They had 7.8 percent in Baden-Wuerttemberg and 5.2 percent in Rhineland-Palatinate.

``The Greens' massive losses endanger the stability of the federal government,'' said ZDF television commentator Nikolaus Brender, adding that the voters had punished Trittin. ``Schroeder's party is doing fine. He just has one problem: The Greens are his Achilles' heel.''

Noting the Greens' weakened state, the Free Democrats tried to position themselves as a likely coalition partner after the next national elections. ``This clearly makes the FDP the third power among the parties in Germany,'' the party's secretary-general Guido Westerwelle told supporters in Berlin.

But Brender noted that the FDP's relatively weak showing, around 8 percent in both states, did not make secure the party's future as a governing partner at the national level.

Greens leaders appeared dismayed, their attractiveness as a coalition partner declining along with their appeal among young voters distant from the party's roots in Europe's 1980s anti-nuclear and anti-war movements.

``We would have wished for better results,'' said the Green's new leader, Claudia Roth, just two weeks after her election as co-chairwoman.

For the Christian Democrats, the renewed victory in Baden-Wuerttemberg strengthened party leader Angela Merkel's position after months of infighting in the wake of a slush fund scandal involving ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

``I think we have achieved a great result, something we didn't expect a few weeks ago,'' Merkel said. ``After a difficult period, the CDU is again in a position to gain votes.''

In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the far-right Republikaner dropped below the 5 percent barrier for winning seats - and out of the statehouse. Mainstream parties welcomed the exit of the anti-immigration party.

AP-NY-03-25-01 1719EST

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.