Germany: One of Germany's leading conservatives has reportedly said they don't stand a chance of winning the 2006 general election because their leaders are so weak.
Mr Edmund Stoiber, the Bavarian state prime minister, reportedly said that voters had little faith in the Christian Democrat (CDU) leader, Dr Angela Merkel, and her likely deputy in a coalition government, liberal Free Democrat (FDP) leader Mr Guido Westerwelle.
"They can't hold a candle to Schröder and Fischer," said Mr Stoiber, according to reports in the Münchner Merkur and Bild newspapers yesterday.
Mr Stoiber's spokesman denied the comments yesterday, allegedly made last Wednesday to members of his Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's Bavarian sister party.
The remarks nevertheless reflect a growing concern of many leading conservatives: that the current popularity of the CDU is built on sand.
Conservative newspapers have criticised the CDU recently for internal squabbling on key issues and for not capitalising on the government's current weakness.
Support for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) has plunged to a historic low of just 20 per cent thanks to unpopular economic and social reforms.
"The CDU is living from the government's weakness, not its own strength," said Mr Manfred Güllner, head of the Forsa polling institute.
"The CDU has over 50 per cent in the polls, but whenever we ask whether the CDU could do better than the current government, only one in five says yes."
If Mr Schröder and Green Foreign Minister Mr Joschka Fischer stay on to fight the 2006 election, they could be more than a match for Dr Merkel and Mr Westerwelle, said Mr Güllner.
Mr Stoiber reportedly said it was a "misjudgment" to think of Dr Merkel and Mr Westerwelle as the "team of the future".
According to the Münchner Merkur, Mr Stoiber said the CDU would have difficulty reaching a wide spectrum of voters with Dr Merkel and Mr Westerwelle, whom he described respectively as an east German protestant and a bachelor from Bonn.
Mr Stoiber was the conservative challenger in the 2002 general election and narrowly missed out on ousting Mr Schröder. He still harbours hopes of a second chance in 2006.
