GERMANY: Efforts to forge a new bipartisan German government were thrown into disarray yesterday when the powerful head of the Social Democrats (SPD) said he would step down after suffering a revolt within his party.
Franz Müntefering made his shock announcement after party leaders voted against his candidate for the post of SPD general secretary, plunging the party into crisis in the midst of talks on forming a government with Angela Merkel's conservatives.
The SPD party and conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), traditional rivals, were forced into talks after an inconclusive election on September 18th left them with no realistic alternative for a stable majority government.
Mr Müntefering had been expected to wield ample power in a new cabinet in the dual roles of labour minister and vice-chancellor - posts he may now decline to take up.
He has been seen as one of the few SPD leaders capable of forging consensus with the conservatives while keeping his own fractious party in line.
Mr Müntefering yesterday vowed to continue with coalition talks, which are expected to be wrapped up by November 12th.
But should he pull out of the new government, it could have far-reaching consequences - perhaps even prompting a breakdown of talks and new elections if the conservatives feel they can no longer negotiate with the SPD.
A source in the CSU told reporters that influential Bavarian premier and CSU chief Edmund Stoiber had doubts about the stability of a "grand coalition" after Mr Müntefering's announcement and could reconsider his decision to move to Berlin as economy minister.
"The SPD is leaderless, it is badly weakened in the coalition talks, and Müntefering's credibility as vice-chancellor and spokesman for his party is in question. Because of this, one has to say the coalition talks are endangered," said Jürgen Falter, a political scientist at Mainz University.
Dr Falter estimated the chances of a coalition between the conservatives and the SPD at 60 per cent after the Müntefering news, compared to 75 per cent previously.
Leading members of the SPD voted 23-14 to appoint 35-year-old Andrea Nahles, a leading left-wing voice and former head of the SPD's youth wing, as general secretary - a post with responsibility for managing internal party affairs.
Her election, which Mr Müntefering had publicly opposed, could herald a shift to the left in the SPD.
Mr Müntefering said after the vote that he would not seek re-election as SPD leader, a position he has held since taking over that job from Mr Schröder in early 2004, and left open the possibility that he could withdraw from his cabinet posts.
He told reporters he wanted to help the party ensure as many of its policies as possible were implemented by a new government. "Whether that means that after the party conference I will or can still be in the cabinet, I have expressly left open," he said.
The SPD holds its party congress two weeks from now in Karlsruhe, where it will decide whether to approve a coalition agreement with Ms Merkel's conservatives and set the stage for the first coalition of the two top parties since the 1960s.
Now it will also have to replace Mr Müntefering as SPD leader, and perhaps find a new vice-chancellor.
The two leading candidates for the top party post are Brandenburg premier Matthias Platzeck (51) and Rhineland-Palatinate premier Kurt Beck (56). - (Reuters)