• Print
• E-Mail
• Feedback

07/01/2010

It was supposed to be the opportunity to jump-start her flailing coalition with a show of unity. Instead Wednesday's presidential election turned into a debacle for Chancellor Angela Merkel with her chosen candidate struggling for support despite her government having a clear majority in the body which elects the president.

The embarassing nine-hour marathon session in the Federal Assembly, made up of Bundestag members and an equal number of delegates from Germany's 16 states, has, say many, further weakened the standing of the chancellor and called into question her leadership abilities.

Christian Wulff, the candidate for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and her junior coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), failed to win the required absolute majority of votes in either the first or second rounds.

The opposition Social Democrats and the Greens were in triumphant mood after their candidate Gauck, a popular ex-civil rights activist from former East Germany, did much better than expected.

'Got the Message'

The fact that so many members of her coalition broke ranks on Wednesday is a significant blow for Merkel, who was already reeling from the loss of a strategic regional election, poor relations with the FDP and complaints from within her own party about austerity measures her government passed earlier this month.

On Thursday, senior government figures were scrabbling to limit the damage and appeal for unity. "The coalition has to improve its teamwork," Hermann Gröhe, general secretary of the CDU, told German television. "We've got the message: we've got to start working better as a coalition."

Annette Schavan, another senior CDU member, told Deutschlandfunk radio: "We would have wished for a clearer result on the day, but now it is about looking forward." And she also mad a plea for unity: "Playing as a team is the best way to play."

Alexander Dobrindt, general secretary of the Christian Social Union, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, said that the election could have been more elegantly done, "but in the end it worked."

Not everyone tried to gloss over the debacle. Wolfgang Gerhardt, former chairman of the FDP, said that the coalition had squandered the chance for a fresh start. "The coalition is still not capable of managing the issues and strategies of the day," he told the ZDF public broadcaster. "And it's not capable of convincing the public."

On Thursday, the German press take a look at the new president and sift through the disarray in the government, with some wondering if Merkel's days are numbered.

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"This wasn't just an election day, it was a day of reckoning for Merkel. It was the day that members of the coalitions settled scores with the chancellor. … Angela Merkel wasn't standing for election but she was the loser on the day. She used the country's highest office for her power games and got entangled by her own reputed shrewdness."

"Merkel's motive in choosing Wulff has increased the loss of trust in her government. She sought to silence a potential opponent within the party and sought to misuse the highest office in the country. She has been seen through. This Federal Assembly became Merkel's writing on the wall."

"The coalition actually has a comfortable majority. If the chancellor only has enough energy to drudgingly drag on her government then she will soon face disaster. Next year's state elections in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt could become her Waterloo."

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"Christian Wulff himself is not really to blame for the misery of his presidential campaign. It is the chancellor and her political allies who share most of the responsibility. They didn't listen to the signals coming from the nomination of Gauck. This omission was just one example of a political style of sticking within the inner circle. It is formally legitimate but is hardly conducive to a thriving democracy. This method of doing what our gang thinks is best had a very negative outcome yesterday. The fact that so many people saw the election marathon as a way to teach Merkel a lesson is her own fault."

The business daily Handelsblatt writes:

"The withholding of 44 votes from the coalition ranks in the first round is no trifling matter, but rather both revenge and humiliation. Merkel and her weak deputy chancellor Guido Westerwelle have to recognize that after their coalition's poor start and the defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia, their government has now reached a new low point."

"One could almost feel sorry for Wulff. During the dramatic election he had to pay the price for the many grievances Merkel's opponents have with her. This speaks volumes about the dwindling and fragile support Merkel has in her own party."

"Merkel, her government and the new president face tough times ahead. Wulff will have to change himself quickly from an unobtrusive party careerist into a non-party president at the service of the citizens. That could be difficult because he cannot simply shed his past as a CDU politician or deny his convictions."

"Merkel and Westerwelle, on the other hand, are now fighting for their political survival."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"Köhler's strange resignation had a big influence on the chancellor's choice for president. After this experience Merkel wanted a candidate that wasn't only at home 'with the people' or in Africa, but also in the country's political system. And Wulff fit the bill. He knew from his own experience all about the affairs of state.… But being elected doesn't mean being admired."

"The painful experience of the election has drained the governing coalition. It makes their lives even more difficult than before. It must now be clear that there is not a lot of time left for reflection."

"Wulff will be measured in the future against a phantom: the President Gauck that never was. Gauck doesn't have to prove that he would have been a better head of state. He can remain the candidate of the people's hearts for ever. Wulff has the more difficult task."

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes:

"Wulff is a president from society's center. A Christian Democrat, but not an arch conservative, rather one with liberal attitudes. Not a polemicist or a polarizer, not one to make a big noise. Someone who wants to bring people together, across ages and social and religious divides. … The new president doesn't hide his private life. His family life shows that he doesn't just come from the center of society, he lives right in it. … Divorced, remarried, a father again later in life, he knows the problems of the patchwork family."

"But can he bring impetus to the presidency? If it is a matter of justice in society, of the responsibility of the state, the elites and the citizens, does he have more to offer than a solid 'on the one hand, on the other hand.' Can he give orientation in times of global crisis, in questions of war and peace? And can the new president become a moral authority in society. It is difficult to imagine any of this. The skepticism about Christian Wulff remains, particularly after yesterday's false start."