Merkel rival concedes defeat

2009-09-27 19:30

Berlin - Angela Merkel's rival in the German election on Sunday, Social Democrat (SPD) Frank-Walter Steinmeier, conceded defeat after she cruised to victory at the helm of a new centre-right coalition.

Merkel's coalition has "a majority in the parliament and will be able to form a government," Steinmeier told dejected supporters after his centre-left party crashed to its worst result since World War II.

"The voters have chosen, and the result is a bitter day for Social Democracy in Germany," Steinmeier said. "There is no other way of saying it, this is a bitter defeat."

Merkel's conservative Christian Union bloc (CDU/CSU) has governed for the past four years in a loveless coalition with the SPD.

But preliminary results broadcast on public television indicated that she will be able to replace them with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

"I promise you that we will be an opposition that will keep a close eye on how the new government conducts itself," Steinmeier said.

The white-haired Steinmeier, 53, ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's former chief of staff who never ran for public office before, also said that he intended to become leader of the SPD's parliamentary group.

The SPD has been in government for 11 years, with Merkel since 2005 and in coalition with the ecologist Greens under Schroeder between 1998 and 2005.

- AFP