Germany's governing Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens looked set last night to scrape back into power in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Both parties saw their share of the vote fall by about 3 per cent in yesterday's state election, but the Christian Democrats (CDU), still smarting from a scandal over illegal donations, failed to benefit from the government's fall in popularity.
The main winners were the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) who looked set to return to the state parliament after a five-year absence with almost 10 per cent of the popular vote.
Early projections gave the SPD 42.6 per cent, the CDU 37.3 per cent, the Greens 7 per cent and the FDP 9.8 per cent. On this basis, the present coalition of Social Democrats and Greens would have a majority of just two seats in the 219-seat state parliament in Dusseldorf.
The former foreign minister and honorary chairman of the FDP, Mr Hans-Dietrich Genscher, called on the Social Democrats to abandon the Greens and enter into coalition talks with his party.
The SPD made it clear last night that they would negotiate first with the Greens, but Mr Peer Steinbruck, the finance minister in the state, left the door open to a coalition with the FDP.
CDU members acknowledged they were disappointed with the result, which party leaders blamed on the funding scandal. But exit polls showed that the party's campaign against a plan to attract foreign computer experts to Germany had alienated many voters.
The result will strengthen the hand of the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, within the ruling coalition in Berlin because it makes it clear to the Greens that he has an alternative partner in the FDP at a federal level, too.
