Liberals fight for political survival in state elections

THE Liberal Free Democrats (FDP), junior partners in the coalition of the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, are fighting for political survival this weekend as 12 million Germans prepare to vote in three state elections tomorrow.

The Liberals need to win at least 5 per cent of the vote in each state to retain their seats in the state parliaments of Sehleswig Holstein, Baden Wurttemberg and Rhineland Palatinate.

If the party fails, Dr Kohl's government will come under pressure as calls mount for his junior partners to sharpen their public profile in opposition. The past two years have been disastrous for the Liberals, who now hold seats in only four of Germany's 16 federal states.

Most analysts believe that 13 years in government with Dr Kohl's Christian Democrats have robbed the smaller party of its distinctive identity. Younger, well educated voters now regard the Greens as the best alternative to Germany's two big parties.

Latest opinion polls place the Liberals just above the crucial per cent, hurdle but, with most polls admitting a 2 per cent margin of error tomorrow's elections are heading for a nail biting finish.

In the prosperous southern state of Baden Wurttemberg, the far right Republicans are also fighting for their political survival. They won more than 10 per cent of the votes in the state in 1992 but they are unlikely to win any seats tomorrow.

If both minor parties fail to win seats, Baden-Wurttemberg's present grand coalition government of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats will probably be replaced by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens.

The campaign in Baden-Wurttemberg has been dominated by the issue of a single European currency with the Social Democrats opposing the abandonment of the mark in 1999.

The election there will be seen as a test of Dr Kohl's European policies and, if the Social Democrats' anti Euro campaign is successful, the party will be tempted to make the currency a central issue in the Bundestag elections in 1998.

The Social Democrats and Liberals are hoping to maintain their coalition government in Dr Kohl's home state of Rhineland Palatinate. But if the Liberals fail, they could be replaced by the Greens.

Most polls predict that the Social Democrats, who currently govern the northern state of Schleswig Holstein alone, will be forced to share power with the Greens after tomorrow's vote.

The three states voting tomorrow make up about 20 per cent of Germany's population of 80 million.