German Land election

[Johannes Schneider]

Chris Burford wrote:
> I hope Johannes will bear with this sketch and help with his own
> observations. I think it is important we take what opportunities there are
> to widen the focus of lists like these beyond the USA.
Chris, thanks for your accurate account of recent main stream politics here
in Germany. Since you provided most of the facts, I would like to add my
personal interpretation:
This election night only saw content politicians. SPD defended the state
government, CDU losses were only small, FDP and Greens above the five
percent barrier ( that is needed to win seats in parliament ). Seeing all of
them so happy is bad news for socialists. Why?
Basically the result means a stabilisation of the traditional German party
system:
The SPD:
Their success is presented by the Blairite Schroeder leadership not only due
to the present weakness of the CDU, but because of their own 'third-roadist'
policies ( as opposed to Lafontaines 'madness' in the first month of
government). Now Schroeder is unchallenged within the SPD.
The FDP:
They proftited most from the CDU funding scandal. Since the FDP is the most
outspoken advocat of big business in Germany, thats really bad news to see
them gaining.
The CDU:
National opinion polls showed them well below 30%. Now they got over 35%.
This shows they have a very stable core to rely on. If they dont start their
usual infighting about who is to lead them in a few month their whole
funding scandal might be forgotten. It looks as if they are not to fall
apart.
The PDS:
They just scored as much as the CP got in the 7oties. So at the moment they
are just a regional party in the East not making any advances in the West.
It was reveleaing what one of their spokespersons blamed for their
disappointing result. 'Protest' voters preferred the SSW ( the SPD-leaning
representative of the Danish minority, who doubled their result ) to the
PDS. It shows that the PDS does not have any real political strategy in the
West.
Johannes