Otra derrota para Merkel
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Merkel sufre otra derrota en las elecciones regionales hoy Domigo, haciendo aumentar las dudas de que Merkel podra resolver la actuar crisis Europea.
El voto para expandir el rescate European Financial Stability Facility es el 29 de Setiembre.
Merkel's CDU Suffers Defeat in Berlin Regional Poll
By WILLIAM BOSTON
BERLIN—German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition of Christian Democrats and liberal Free Democrats suffered a setback in the regional Berlin election Sunday, casting further doubt about Ms. Merkel's ability to solve Europe's currency crisis.
Although a regional election, the Berlin vote has taken on broader national significance because of a bitter row in Ms. Merkel's coalition over how best to resolve the euro crisis. The chancellor's coalition partner, the liberal Free Democrats, last week launched what many observers perceived as an anti-European campaign that threatened to undermine Ms. Merkel's efforts to gain parliamentary support for expanding the European Financial Stability Facility bailout fund in a crucial vote on Sept. 29.
The Social Democrats, in the opposition in the federal Parliament, previously ruled Berlin in a coalition with the reform communists, Die Linke, and emerged the strongest party in Berlin as expected. The CDU was seen winning 23.5%, a slight gain from the last election in 2006.
The more serious trouble for Ms. Merkel is that the Free Democrats, junior partner in her Merkel's center-right coalition, crashed out of the Berlin state legislature, winning less than 2% of the vote, well below the 5% hurdle needed to enter the state Parliament. The Berlin vote marks the fifth time in seven regional elections this year that the FDP failed to enter regional parliaments, leaving the party fearing for its survival.
"Merkel's government is endangered by the weakness of the FDP," Gerd Langguth, political scientist at Bonn University and Merkel biographer, told Dow Jones Newswires. "Any party that is trawling below 5% of the vote becomes unpredictable."
In the days leading up to the Berlin election, speculation about a possible breakup of the coalition of the chancellor's Christian Democrats, Bavarian Christian Social Union, and FDP emerged as Ms. Merkel and the FDP leader, Economics Minister Phillip Roesler, became embroiled in a row over further bailouts for Greece.
Mr. Roesler has led a vociferous campaign against saving Greece at any cost, saying there should be no taboo about discussing allowing Greece to default rather than throw good money after bad.
Mr. Roesler's antibailout campaign was a thinly veiled attempt to tap voter anger over Ms. Merkel's support for further euro bailouts, say analysts. The liberals are plumbing the depths in opinion polls, and the Berlin poll marks the first electoral test since Mr. Roesler took the helm as the party's chairman earlier this year. Analysts said the failed attempt to win the Berlin vote with a euro-sceptic campaign has probably weakened Mr. Roesler, adding to the instability in Ms. Merkel's coalition.
Claudia Roth, co-leader of the Greens, said the Berlin vote was a clear signal for a change of power at the federal level and a slap in the face for euro sceptics. "It is incredibly positive that voters punished the anti-European populism of the FDP," Roth told German television.
Responding to the growing sense that Ms. Merkel's government could topple, the opposition SPD has called for new elections. SPD Chairman Sigmar Gabriel said at the weekend that, should the coalition split, the SPD wouldn't be willing to enter a grand coalition with the CDU unless there were new elections first and that Ms. Merkel couldn't be chancellor. Opinion polls regularly show that a new election would likely result in a victory for the SPD and the Greens.
Mayor Klaus Wowereit, a jovial and well-liked native Berliner known for characterizing the German capital as "poor but sexy," looked almost certain to rule the city in a coalition with the Greens, who won just over 18% of the Berlin vote.
Write to William Boston at
newseditors@wsj.com