Germany: The reversal of fortune for Germany's ruling Social Democrats appeared to continue after local elections in Germany's most populous state yesterday.
After two years of heavy losses in regional elections, the SPD lost less than 2 per cent in local and municipal elections in the Ruhr state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), compared to over 6 per cent losses for the Christian Democrats (CDU).
Although the CDU remains the strongest party in the state's town halls with 44 per cent support, the party's losses continue a trend from elections last weekend. It gives the SPD cause for cautious optimism, two years before the next general election, that the fury over difficult austerity measures is dissipating.
However, the fate of Chancellor Garhard Schröder's government is widely expected to be determined by the 14 million voters in next year's state election in North-Rhine Westphalia, ruled by the SPD since 1966.
A CDU win would be a knock-out blow for the SPD's prestige. On a practical level, it would paralyse the government's ability to pass laws as the conservative opposition would have a two-thirds majority in the upper house, the Bundesrat.
"The CDU has lost heavily, the SPD has stabilised and found its teeth again. After a terrible summer we're in a good position again. We are very confident about the state elections," said Mr Harald Schartau, SPD leader in North-Rhine Westphalia. A CDU leader said: "Next year is the end of the Social Democrats in Düsseldorf [state parliament]."
However, political commentators say it is too soon to talk of an SPD revival. "It's a fading of the Christian Democrats rather than a strengthening of the SPD," remarked one television analyst yesterday.