Germany: Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) suffered another stinging defeat and another record loss of support in a state election yesterday.
Support for the SPD dropped by over one-third to just 30 per cent in the western state of Saarland, where the Christian Democrats retained power with a bigger majority of 48 per cent.
The Saarland result, the party's worst performance there in over 40 years, was the latest in an uninterrupted string of state election defeats for the SPD, punished by voters for continued economic stagnation despite swingeing economic reforms.
The SPD had not expected to win the election against a backdrop of weekly protests in cities across Germany against the government's reform proposals. However, neither was it ready for the dramatic slump in a state the party ruled for 14 years until 1999.
Most troubling for SPD leaders was the news from electoral analysts that the party lost most heavily, around 28 per cent, among traditional voters such as workers and the unemployed.
The anti-government mood in the state, which neighbours France and Luxembourg, was stoked by the return from the political wilderness of Saarland politician Mr Oscar Lafontaine. The former federal finance minister has turned into Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's political nemesis, criticising the government's reforms at every turn.
"Oscar Lafontaine has to decide whether he wants to involve himself in the SPD or outside," said Mr Heiko Mass, the SPD leader in Saarland.
He said Mr Lafontaine's announcement during the campaign that he would help found a new left-wing party before the 2006 general election had "damaged" the SPD's campaign.
The vote was a grim omen for SPD leaders ahead of two other state elections this month, where the SPD is expected to suffer further defeats. This will tip the balance of power in the upper house, the Bundesrat, even further in favour of the conservatives, making any additional government reforms next to impossible.
In the June European elections, the SPD suffered its most disastrous election results since the second World War.