The Jolly Roger Flies in the Berlin Elections
Berlin voted on Sunday. Mayor Klaus Wowereit, a Social Democrat, retains his office but his government needs reshuffling. The only real surprise was a hefty 9 percent vote for an unusual new party, the Pirates, whose fifteen delegates in the new city parliament will be their first anywhere in Germany.
With Pirates in parliament (though not in power), will anyone be walking the plank? The floundering big-biz party, the Free Democrats (FDP), which still holds the Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister spots in the federal government as junior partners to Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, suffered its fifth defeat in as many state elections this year. Under 2 percent on Sunday, and no more deputy seats in Berlin's parliament, it is now gasping for air. Last-minute attempts to build on anti-Greek sentiment, opposing financial support for that sagging euro-comrade, didn't help it one bit. Most Berliners, if they thought about the party at all, said "Good riddance!"
But ach and alas, the Left party -- die Linke -- also plunged into icier political waters. Its 11.5 percent, lower even than its disappointing 13.4 in 2006, meant that its 19 seats in the city-state parliament (down from 23) could no longer give Mayor Wowereit the required majority of 76 seats. After ten years of joint though junior rule, it will now be part of the opposition.
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