North Rhine-Westphalia Votes: What to Watch for in Sunday's State Election

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The city-state of Hamburg has one. So does the small western German state of Saarland. But so far, that's it. Not a single larger German state has a governing coalition made up of the center-right Christian Democrats and the Greens.

Sunday's vote in North Rhine-Westphalia might change that. And if it does, it could pave the way for an eventual CDU-Green coalition at the national level in Berlin.

Polls currently show that a governing coalition pairing the CDU with the Greens is a very real possibility, should the two parties decide to take the plunge. Indeed, the environmental party currently has some 12 percent support, a positive showing that reflects the party's climbing numbers across the country.

Still, a CDU-Green pairing has never been particularly attractive for either party. Many in the CDU still see the Greens as an undisciplined group of post-hippy rabble-rousers. And many in the Greens are wary of the CDU's pro-nuclear, pro-coal positions on energy issues.

Looking for New Partners

Recent years, though, have seen the Social Democrats -- with whom the Greens formed a governing coalition under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder -- haemorrhage support, making it clear that, if the Greens want any power at all, they have to look elsewhere for a partner. Green-CDU pairings in Saarland and Hamburg are seen as first steps. Sylvia Löhrmann, the Greens lead candidate in North Rhine-Westphalia, has said that, while a partnership with the SPD is her first choice, she is not ruling out a pairing with the CDU.

It is a line that echoes the Green's national leadership. Germany's Greens are doing their best to position themselves at the very center of the country's political spectrum. They match up well with the Free Democrats on rights issues, agree with the Social Democrats on education and labor policy and back the CDU when it comes to defense issues. Sunday's results will show whether the party's march to the center takes a significant step forward.

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• Part 1: What to Watch for in Sunday's State Election
• Part 2: Will Merkel Lose the Power to Enact Political Reform?
• Part 3: Can Hannelore Kraft Bring the Social Democrats Back from the Dead?
• Part 4: Is Germany's Future Green?
• Part 5: Headscarves and Minarets