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BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partners have left her conservatives until next year to get more political results, threatening to end their alliance if the two parties had not made progress. regional elections on Sunday.
The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) of Merkel won the election ballot in the state of Hesse, in the west of the country, but collected only 27.2 % of votes, according to ZDF broadcaster projections based on preliminary results.
This represented a huge drop from the 38.3% won by the CDU in the last elections in Hesse in 2013.
The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) won another 19.6% of the vote, against 30.7% of the vote and their worst result in the Western state since 1946. The party was on par with the Greens. .
SPD leader Andrea Nahles said she would use a road map to measure the progress of the ruling coalition, which is facing internal conflict, at a mid-term review next year.
"We could then evaluate the implementation of this roadmap at the agreed mid-term review, when we would be able to see clearly if this government is the right place for us," Nahles said. the press. "The state of government is unacceptable."
His message was clear: the SPD must be able to show tangible results to its supporters next year, otherwise party leaders will withdraw from the coalition with Merkel.
Volker Bouffier, outgoing CDU Prime Minister in Hesse and Merkel's ally, said his party had achieved its goal of being able to lead the next government in Hesse, but added: "We are suffering because of losses."
"The message to the ruling parties in Berlin is that people want less conflict and more attention to important issues," he said.
The mediocre result of the CDU in Hesse, after its sister party in the state of Bavaria, the CSU, had its worst result since 1950 two weeks ago, may spark a debate over who will succeed Merkel and when. She has been Chancellor for 13 years.
Merkel's weakness at home could limit her ability to lead the European Union at a time when the EU is addressing Brexit, a fiscal crisis in Italy and the prospect of winning populist parties in the May European Parliament elections. next.
"LOST CONFIDENCE"
The strong performance of the Greens in Hesse means that Mr Bouffier will likely be able to remain prime minister at the head of a CDU / Greens government.
The other big winner is the Far Right Alternative for Germany (AfD), entered for the first time in the Hesse Regional Assembly with 12.8% of the votes , according to the projections of the ZDF.
The result means that the anti-immigration party, which entered the Federal Parliament for the first time last year, is now also represented in the 16 German regional assemblies.
Merkel's ruling coalition "has lost the confidence of the electorate," said Josef Joffe, publisher-publisher of the weekly Die Zeit.
Regarding the SPD, he added: "A party in free fall can not be reborn from the ashes by entering the opposition. So, the big ones of the party will grit their teeth, stay in the coalition and wait for a better day.
The fourth and possibly last Merkel government has nearly collapsed twice. Nahles's comments show that the SPD will put more pressure on the Conservatives to achieve political results for the center-left party.
Merkel's conservatives formed their loveless national partnership with the SPD only in March, after talks on a three-way coalition of conservatives, Greens and FDP, which favored companies, failed.
An exit poll from the ARD TV channel revealed that only 13% of CDU voters thought Merkel had helped the party in Hesse, compared to 70% in the last general election, reflecting voters' anger at the polls. its decision in 2015 to accommodate nearly one million Muslim asylum seekers.
The CDU holds its annual congress in December. Merkel will then run as party president. She will probably be reappointed, but weak support for her would undermine her authority and speed up the succession debate.
Report by Paul Carrel; Edited by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
