State election gains boost Kohl coalition

THE centre right coalition government of the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, received an unexpected boost yesterday with big gains in state elections in Baden Wurttemberg, Rhineland Palatinate and Schleswig Holstein. Dr Kohl's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) increased its share of the vote in all three states while his junior coalition partners, in the Liberal Free Democrats, confounded their critics by retaining their seats in the three state parliaments.

Dr Kohl can be especially pleased by the result in the large, southern state of Baden Wurttemberg, where the opposition Social Democrats had their worst ever result following a campaign based on opposition to the single European currency and to ethnic German immigrants from eastern Europe. The Social Democrats, who have shared power in the state with the Christian Democrats for the past four years, are almost certain to be replaced within the governing coalition by the Liberals.

The Christian Democrat Federal Transport Minister, Mr Matthias Wissmann, claimed that the result represented a massive rejection of the populist policies of the Social Democrat chairman, Mr Oskar Lafontaine, and the leader of the SPD in Baden Wurttemberg, Mr Dieter Spoeri.

Mr Spoeri admitted responsibility for his party's poor result in Baden Wurttemberg, announcing that he was stepping down from the leadership.

The Greens improved their share of the vote in all three states, confirming the party's position as the third force in German politics. But the most cheerful party managers last night were in the FDP, which faced political extinction if it had failed to perform well.

A beaming Mr Klaus Kinkel, Germany's Foreign Minister and former leader of the FDP, welcomed the results as a vote of confidence in his party and in the government in Bonn.

As Christian Democrats and Liberals celebrated and Social Democrats mourned their losses, all Germany's democratic parties were united in disappointment at the impressive performance by the far right Republicans, who won 9 per cent of the vote in Baden Wurttemberg.