Germany's election turned into a bruising confidence vote in its crisis-ridden coalition, writes DEREK SCALLY
GERMAN POLITICS is not normally this exciting but these are not normal times in Berlin.
Electing a new president is usually a routine matter, reflecting the largely symbolic role of Germany’s head of state.
After last month’s surprise resignation of president Horst Köhler, however, yesterday’s vote for his replacement turned into a bruising confidence vote for Germany’s crisis-stricken coalition government.
When Chancellor Angela Merkel strode into the Reichstag yesterday at noon, her black trouser suit seemed a glum choice for this chance to push the political “reset” button on her eight-month second term.
But her black garb seemed increasingly appropriate for what turned into a long, black day for her leadership.
On paper her Christian Democrats (CDU) had a comfortable majority in the 1,242-member federal assembly that elects the president – half Bundestag MPs, half delegates sent from the federal states. But instead of solid backing for her presidential candidate – Lower Saxony state premier Christian Wulff – voters from the CDU and its junior partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), used the secret vote to back the opposition candidate, Joachim Gauck.
After one failed vote, then a second, a thin-lipped Dr Merkel withdrew from the Reichstag chamber to read her delegates the riot act.
As the sun set over Berlin a third vote – nine hours after the first – saw Mr Wulff elected with an absolute majority, though a simple majority would have sufficed.
Smiles all round and thundering applause for Mr Wulff, but the damage was done – to Dr Merkel’s enfeebled coalition partner and, more importantly, to her authority as German chancellor.
On Friday as planned, Mr Wulff will move into his new residence of Bellevue Palace. Aat 51 he will be Germany’s youngest-ever president. But his victory comes at a high price for the CDU: reset aborted, Dr Merkel’s government will limp on.
“She is not strengthened, as she hoped, but considerably weakened by this vote,” said Prof Gerd Langguth, a political scientist and Merkel biographer. “She will need to do something courageous in the near future to end the cacophony of the last months.” Whether over tax cuts or healthcare reforms, Germany’s ruling coalition partners have been at odds since taking office last October.
Instead of the CDU’s hoped-for a dream team, the coalition, with their traditional FDP coalition partners, has become an unending political nightmare.
Dr Merkel’s window of opportunity to reverse this government’s fortunes is closing fast: Germany faces no less than six state elections next year: six chances for further humiliation, this time at the hands of the electorate.
After months of public rows and an unpopular austerity package in the pipeline, it will take some fancy footwork for Dr Merkel to win back voter support. Before then she has to bring back in line CDU backbenchers who instrumentalised yesterday’s vote.
But there is little she can do about the rebels in her coalition partner. By withholding their support in two rounds yesterday, frustrated FDP backbenchers let off steam, then pulled back in the third vote rather than risk bringing down the coalition. That would have been a kamikaze move for a party that, after winning 14.6 per cent in last September’s election, now barely registers in opinion polls.
With continued turbulence on the domestic front, European partners can reduce further their already low expectations of this government in the current eurozone debate while hopes for president Christian Wulff on the European stage are not much higher.
“As state premier he has never expressed an interest in Europe or international affairs,” said Martin Schulz, head of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.