By Duroyan Fertl
October 5, 2009 – Germany’s ``centre-right’’
Chancellor Angela Merkel was returned to power in federal elections held on
September 27, but with a record low voter turnout and an increased vote for the
far-left party, Die Linke (The Left).
The election was a clear success for Merkel
and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Her preferred coalition partner – the
free-market fundamentalist Free Democratic Party (FDP) – increased its support
by 4.8 per cent to an all-time high of 14.6 per cent, enough to form a CDU-FDP
government. The FDP will now replace the CDU’s main rival – the ``centre-left’’
Social Democratic Party (SPD) – as coalition partner in the government of
Europe’s largest economy.
At the same time, the SPD’s support collapsed
by more than 6 million votes, dropping a massive11.2 per cent to only 23 per cent
– its worst result since World War II. As one leading SPD member pointed out on
election night, “We have been bombed back into the Weimar Republic”. SPD leader
Walter Steinmeier described the result as “a bitter day” for German social
democracy.