Germany seeks way out of political maze

BERLIN – As Germans woke up yesterday after an election with no clear winner, the match-making began for a political marriage of convenience to rule the country, with the press and analysts pointing to three options.

The first would be a so-called “grand coalition” between the two biggest parties – Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Merkel’s conservative alliance holds a wafer-thin three-seat lead over the Social Democrats, way below what is required to form a governing majority.But the grand coalition option was fraught as Merkel and Schroeder both claimed the right to be chancellor and neither showed any sign of relenting.”Merkel wants to become chancellor, Schroeder wants to remain chancellor,” the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said yesterday, summing up the standoff that could drag on for weeks as talks with coalition partners take place.Schroeder, in fighting form after his party’s stunning surge in the polls to take 34 per cent of the vote, explicitly ruled out a grand coalition with Merkel as chancellor.”Mrs Merkel will not obtain a coalition with the SPD if she wants to become chancellor,” he said on national television on Sunday.”I am going to hold discussions with the other parties and I can tell you already that they will end in success.”The statement seemed to many observers to be an open invitation to the Christian Democrats to stage a coup against Merkel and find another leader to take them into a grand coalition.Merkel has been weakened by her party’s showing on Sunday in an election that seemed hers to win, and analysts said she could struggle to hold on to the reins of the conservative party.The second possibility would group together the Social Democrats, their old coalition partners the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).Guido Westerwelle’s FDP had been Merkel’s favoured coalition partners and defied expectations to increase their support on Sunday to become the third biggest political party in the country.But even their result of more than 10 per cent was not enough to make up for the conservatives’ disappointing tally of 35 per cent and give the parties a ruling majority.If Schroeder could now persuade the FDP to walk over to his side the result would be what the Germans call a “traffic light coalition” because of their party colours – red, yellow and green.The problem here is that Westerwelle has vowed that he would not desert Merkel, even though there is talk that Schroeder has offered his party key cabinet posts in return for the FDP’s hand in a coalition.The third and most remote possibility was considered to be a so-called “Jamaican coalition”, again based on the party colours, between the Christian Democrats, the FDP and the Greens.This would grant Merkel her wish of becoming chancellor, and the first woman to lead Germany, but it was unsure whether the Greens would take the bait – they have far less in common with the Christian Democrats than they have with Schroeder’s party.Also ruled out for the moment is any tie-up with a new alliance of Social Democrat dissidents and former communists known as the Left Party, which garnered 8,7 per cent.- Nampa-AFPMerkel’s conservative alliance holds a wafer-thin three-seat lead over the Social Democrats, way below what is required to form a governing majority.But the grand coalition option was fraught as Merkel and Schroeder both claimed the right to be chancellor and neither showed any sign of relenting.”Merkel wants to become chancellor, Schroeder wants to remain chancellor,” the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said yesterday, summing up the standoff that could drag on for weeks as talks with coalition partners take place.Schroeder, in fighting form after his party’s stunning surge in the polls to take 34 per cent of the vote, explicitly ruled out a grand coalition with Merkel as chancellor.”Mrs Merkel will not obtain a coalition with the SPD if she wants to become chancellor,” he said on national television on Sunday.”I am going to hold discussions with the other parties and I can tell you already that they will end in success.”The statement seemed to many observers to be an open invitation to the Christian Democrats to stage a coup against Merkel and find another leader to take them into a grand coalition.Merkel has been weakened by her party’s showing on Sunday in an election that seemed hers to win, and analysts said she could struggle to hold on to the reins of the conservative party.The second possibility would group together the Social Democrats, their old coalition partners the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).Guido Westerwelle’s FDP had been Merkel’s favoured coalition partners and defied expectations to increase their support on Sunday to become the third biggest political party in the country.But even their result of more than 10 per cent was not enough to make up for the conservatives’ disappointing tally of 35 per cent and give the parties a ruling majority.If Schroeder could now persuade the FDP to walk over to his side the result would be what the Germans call a “traffic light coalition” because of their party colours – red, yellow and green.The problem here is that Westerwelle has vowed that he would not desert Merkel, even though there is talk that Schroeder has offered his party key cabinet posts in return for the FDP’s hand in a coalition.The third and most remote possibility was considered to be a so-called “Jamaican coalition”, again based on the party colours, between the Christian Democrats, the FDP and the Greens.This would grant Merkel her wish of becoming chancellor, and the first woman to lead Germany, but it was unsure whether the Greens would take the bait – they have far less in common with the Christian Democrats than they have with Schroeder’s party.Also ruled out for the moment is any tie-up with a new alliance of Social Democrat dissidents and former communists known as the Left Party, which garnered 8,7 per cent.- Nampa-AFP