CHANCELLOR ANGELA Merkel’s junior coalition partner the Free Democrats (FDP) are facing an existential crisis after crashing out of a regional parliament at the weekend.
Their fourth state election humiliation in a row, in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, saw the party poll just 2.8 per cent – well short of the 5 per cent hurdle required for parliamentary representation.
The state’s ruling grand coalition headed by the Social Democrats is expected to continue in office, despite a five-point loss in support for their junior coalition partners, the Christian Democrats.
The Greens were the big winners: a strong showing has brought them into the last state parliament where they were not represented.
Despite a rise in support to 18 per cent, the Left Party is expected to remain in opposition. The neo-Nazi NPD captured 6 per cent of the vote in a record low turnout of just 51 per cent.
The regional poll was decided more on local than national issues, such as 11 per cent unemployment, and the liberal, pro-business Free Democrats were never expected to do well in this eastern German state. But even with those low expectations, the result was a disaster for the party’s new leader Philip Rösler, just four months into the job.
Two years after a record 14.6 per cent result in the general election, the party has struggled to build a profile in office. Failure to deliver on tax cut promises has robbed it of credibility; a front-bench reshuffle three months ago retained many old faces and has failed to give the party a shot in the arm.
“The FDP started [in 2009] with grand promises and is now at a very low level because it hasn’t done what it promised,” said Prof Nils Diedirich, political scientist at Berlin’s Free University.
Mr Rösler admitted yesterday the state poll result was a “bitter defeat” for which he “obviously carried responsibility”.
“We will not be able to win back trust from one day to the next,” he said.
Mr Rösler, economics minister in Dr Merkel’s cabinet, has two years to turn things around. Yesterday he vowed to do so by emphasising the party’s economic liberal credentials.
But until Christian Democrats finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble agrees to tax cuts, Mr Rösler’s hands are tied. Behind the scenes, party officials admitted the mood yesterday was one of “barely disguised panic”.
“The FDP brand is dirt and no one knows how to turn that around,” said one senior party official in Berlin.
The Free Democrats disaster was politically useful for Dr Merkel in distracting from the continued fall in support for her Christian Democrats, continuing a trend in four out of five recent polls in the so-called “super election year”.
But continued weakness of her coalition partner could severely limit her re-election chances in 2013.
Party officials were anxious to play down the influence of recent euro zone debate on the result.