State polls 1st test for Merkel
2006-03-26 14:21
Berlin - Three German states went to the polls on Sunday for the first electoral examination of Chancellor Angela Merkel's power-sharing government since she took office in November.
More than 17 million voters - one fifth of the nation's electorate - were eligible to cast their votes in Baden-Wuerttemberg in the southwest, Rhineland-Palatinate in the west and Saxony-Anhalt in the former communist east.
Exit polls were expected at 16:00 GMT.
Campaigning for the so-called "Super Sunday" of elections has seen Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and their coalition partners, the Social Democrats, largely steer clear of all-out attacks to avoid jeopardizing their alliance at national level.
Pre-election opinion polls showed that the leaders of all three states could be heading for another term in office, but strong wins or heavy losses for either of the main parties could shift the balance of power in Berlin.
In the wine-producing Rhineland-Palatinate, the Social Democrats are tipped to continue their only coalition at state level with the liberal Free Democrats, under the leadership of veteran premier Kurt Beck.
In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the prosperous home of auto giants DaimlerChrysler and Porsche blessed with the lowest unemployment rate of Germany's 16 states, the conservatives are poised to maintain their half-century grip on power.
The biggest question appeared to be whether dour state leader Guenther Oettinger could capture an absolute majority just 11 months after taking power, or be forced to continue his coalition with the Free Democrats.
In the economically depressed region of Saxony-Anhalt, the Christian Democrats could see their alliance with the Free Democrats fall apart, likely paving the way for a link-up with the Social Democrats.
A "grand coalition" there mirroring Merkel's left-right administration would also widen her majority in the Bundesrat upper house, helping her in an upcoming battle over a sweeping overhaul of Germany's federal system.
Eyeing a possible coup, Vice-Chancellor Franz Muentefering told a Social Democrat rally in the state capital Magdeburg on Friday that voters must turn out against 70-year-old conservative premier Wolfgang Boehmer.
"This state needs new strength and cannot be governed from a rocking chair," he said.
The sprightly Boehmer was up early on Sunday to vote with his wife in the town of Wittenberg.
Although Merkel appeared on the campaign trail this week to lend her Christian Democrats a boost, she has little interest in a disaster for the Social Democrats.
Merkel, who has enjoyed an extended honeymoon since taking office and is now Germany's most popular politician, said this month she would tackle the most pressing reform initiatives when the elections were behind her.
The Social Democrats have complained they are wilting in Merkel's long shadow, a fact that some analysts have said could drive the party to the left.
"If the SPD has the feeling that it is making the bigger sacrifice for the grand coalition, something has got to change," Hermann Scheer of the party's left wing told Saturday's edition of the daily Tageszeitung.
A leftward shift would complicate upcoming talks on the ailing health care system, the possible introduction of a minimum wage and plans to strip away laws protecting employees against sacking - all of which are seen as potentially divisive tests of the ruling coalition.