Main focus of Monday, January 28, 2008

Regional elections in Hesse and Lower Saxony

Elections were held yesterday in two German states. In Hesse, the governing Christian Democratic Union of premier Roland Koch suffered heavy losses, and is now only 0.1 percent ahead of the SPD, under its party chief Andrea Ypsilanti. But the CDU kept a firm hold on Lower Saxony. And the Left Party will now have representatives in both state parliaments. How will these election results impact federal politics?

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

"The SPD is swinging to the left. And the Left Party is starting to put down roots in the West. This election day changes the picture of German politics," comments Heribert Prantl. "Voters in Hesse rediscovered a party that had been declared dead. The Social Democrats were no longer red, but colourless; the party was afraid of its own tradition and its members; it trembled at the thought of the Left Party, as if it were an overpowering enemy. ... It took long enough for the news about mass firings and billions of bankruptcies to discredit neo-liberal promises and rehabilitate social welfare policy. Now, the public no longer sees [SPD-top candidate] Ypsilanti as washed out, but rather as being direct; she is seen in the Party as an example of how a Social Democrat needs not escape to political Nirvana or to the Left Party, in order to ... continue talking about social justice." (28/01/2008)

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

Germany's party system has changed so much for the worse that it's worth considering a new system to build more stable majorities, suggests Jürg Delial. "The elections have not only brought about an unpleasant stalemate between the two largest established parties, but also the entrance of the political left, which calls itself the 'Left Party.' It got a foothold in Lower Saxony, too, where the CDU and FDP kept their hold on the government. This has now highlighted the disastrous five-party pattern in West Germany, which is tantamount to the destabilization of the parliamentary system. All established parties treat the Left Party as a bunch of street urchins. But how can a government be formed without them? One practical solution would be a Grand Coalition between the CDU and SPD, clearly a stop-gap method, as the black-red partnership on the federal level has demonstrated numerous times of late." (28/01/2008)

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Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

Jiří Sládek comments: "These elections were basically a popularity test for next year's federal parliamentary elections, particularly for the [Christian Democratic] Union and the SPD [Social Democrats], partners in the current grand coalition. The competitors leaned on populist themes in their campaigns. The conservatives milked issues of domestic security and tough measures against immigrants. The left emphasized minimum wages. Voters were swayed by the latter. … The SPD now can return to the federal scene with self-confidence, and present more demands for easing the pain caused by social reforms, which up to now have been successful." (28/01/2008)

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El País - Spain

José Comas considers that the defeat of Roland Koch is "a magnificent illustration of the electorate's maturity. Contrary to 1999, the campaign against the duel nationality of immigrants which allowed him to become presidency of the state of Hesse, didn't work this time. Koch's attempt to mobilise the silent majority with xenophobic and outdated anti-communism have backfired for he could even, according to provisional results, lose his presidency of this state. Koch's defeat is of benefit for Merkel (CDU) because the chancellor had reluctantly played a part in his populist campaign. This defeat is distancing the danger posed by one of the CDU's most ambitious politicians, a rival who kept on cutting the ground from under her feet." (28/01/2008)

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