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Chancellor Concedes 'Painful' Election Losses

Merkel Defends Battered Koch

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended Hesse Governor Roland Koch after he suffered stinging losses in Sunday's state election. Bitter regional campaigning has soured relations between the parties in her grand coalition, but she insists her government remains intact.

Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded on Monday that her conservative Christian Democrats had suffered "painful" losses in the Hesse state electionbut insisted that Hesse Governor Roland Koch's campaign strategy, including his controversial focus on youth crime, had been "absolutely right."

"It was painful, we can't deny that, but the CDU remained the strongest party which means Roland Koch has a mandate to form a government" in Hesse, Merkel told a news conference.

Koch, a Merkel ally, ended up just 0.1 points ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD) on 36.8 percent. The outcome is a political defeat for him because his support fell by 12 percentage points from the last state election in Hesse in 2003.

The results, which include significant showings for three smaller parties, mean it is unclear whether the CDU or SPD will be able to lead a coalition in Hesse. Coalition talks among the parties could take weeks if not months, and are likely to further sour the atmosphere between the CDU and SPD in Merkel's grand coalition.

But Merkel insisted her government remained workable. "For the grand coalition this means carrying on and solving the problems of the people," she said. She pointed out that Germany's economic environment "isn't exactly easy" and that the two parties through their combined majority in both houses of parliament remained well placed to tackle the challenges.

In another election in the north-western state of Lower Saxony, CDU Governor Christian Wulff retained power in a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) although he also saw his support drop.

Merkel said the SPD result in Lower Saxony was its worst in that state since 1947, and that the CDU had remained the strongest party in both Lower Saxony and Hesse despite the losses.

The slump for Koch is also a blow for Merkel, who gave him strong backing in his campaign.

A stony-faced Koch, standing next to Merkel in the CDU party headquarters in Berlin, said: "Of course we see yesterday's results as painful for the CDU. But the CDU remains the strongest party with a small margin and claims the right to form the next government. We now face very complicated days."

He said he hoped the parties would be able to form a stable government for Hesse, but added that he wasn't certain they would succeed.

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