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| Europe |
| State election landslide hits Schröder |
| 2004-09-06 |
| via Al Guardian - EFL Ben Aris - Monday September 6, 2004 The German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, suffered a setback yesterday as voters in a regional election punished the government for pushing through controversial welfare reforms that have sparked weeks of street protests. The conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) state premier, Peter MÃŒller, was re-elected by a landslide in the small state of Saarland on the French border. The closely watched poll was the first in a series of regional elections in which Germans are expected to make clear their discontent with the government. Mr Schröder has failed to make good on election promises to cut high unemployment, and even the mild economic recovery expected this year seems to be faltering. Complete official results showed that the Christian Democrats won more than 47.5% of the votes, a gain of two percentage points on the last election in 1999. Mr Schröder's Social Democrats polled 30.8%, a loss of 14 percentage points. The Greens and Free Democrats both just crossed the 5% barrier for seats in the state parliament, but the far-right National Democratic party, which came from nowhere to gain 4% of votes, failed to win a seat. ...more... I'll happily leave the analysis of who's on first, second, third, to the pros... I'll only offer that it couldn't happen to a more deserving prick. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #6 TGA, welcome to the real world. I recently applied for help on being made redundant, albeit after 7 months work in the UK, where I have lived for 20 years: nothing. On two occasions at the Exchange there were people who could not speak English, and when asked, they said, "Yes", they had received money, and wanted some more. 'king great! And btw, my father-in-law is paying tax on his pension that he paid tax on when he was working! As they say, go figure. |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2004-09-06 5:07:11 PM |
| #5 Just following the general trend. The Saarland used to be a SPD stronghold ten years ago. People just can't bring themselves to like the new rules for receiving unemployment benefits. The new rules say that you only get 12 months of regular unemployment benefit (based on your last income), after that it turns into basic welfare (and you can add a bit of money by taking on charity jobs that pay 1-2 € an hour. There is a certain unfairness involved with this law. People who have paid mandatory unemployment insurance for 30 years get the same (after 12 months) than people who have only be in employment for 3 years. The whole system doesn't work anymore. The radical fringe parties are taking advantage of the situation. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-09-06 3:43:22 PM |
| #4 Anybody know how much of an affect Bush's troop withdrawal had on the election? |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-09-06 3:25:58 PM |
| #3 Sarge - Take a look at the lonk Below which has detail on the previous election in 1999. 1999 Saar Results I has been moving away from Schroeder and his Socialists for awhile but the lanslide looks significant. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-09-06 1:28:09 PM |
| #2 Social democrats have been losing every election for some time now. Still, its a set up because whomever replaces Schroeder will have to do the dirty work required to fix the economy and will thus piss off lots and lots of people. |
| Posted by: RJ Schwarz 2004-09-06 1:24:58 PM |
| #1 I am interested in what TGA has to say on this subject. Is this just a conservative enclave or is this a sign of things to come? I heard the unemployment was pretty bad in Europe. Not to rub theor noses but the Unemployment rate is at 5.4% last month in the U.S. I learned in economics that the statistical model becomes inaccurate around this level (too low to measure properly). Mudt be the conservatives fault! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-09-06 12:50:51 PM |