Vote leaves Germany in a political mudbath

Andy Eckardt Producer

MAINZ, Germany -

Oops! What now, Deutschland?

Germans were confused and in shock on Monday morning after Sunday’s general election failed to give either of the major political parties a mandate, thus leaving the economically troubled country with no clear leader.

Even though Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), emerged as a marginal winner — with 35.2 percent of the vote against 34.3 percent for Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats (SPD) — the challenger cannot become the country's first-ever woman chancellor without entering into a complicated coalition, including the possibility of a "grand coalition" between the two major parties.

Schroeder, meanwhile, dismissed the idea that she ever will.

"Do you honestly believe that my party will enter talks with Mrs. Merkel if she says that she wants to become chancellor?" Schroeder said on Sunday night in a heated television interview.

Future unclear
The uncompromising post-election battle between Schroeder and Merkel is adding to fears of a political gridlock in Germany.

"Who will rule Germany now?" was one of the headlines on Germany's mass circulation Bild newspaper on Monday morning.

The ambivalent situation was reflected in reactions from other European countries, which are concerned at the prospect of instability in the continent’s most populous and economically powerful nation.

“The election results present an uncertain political picture," said Gianfranco Fini, Italy's foreign minister.

In Britain, the country's leading papers were harsh in their headlines and reports.

"Election setback for Germany's Thatcher brings chaos to Berlin,” was The Times’ headline.

"Within Europe, Germany wasn't exactly a leader for reform, nor a leader in anything, and that will just continue," Daniel Gros, from the Centre for European Studies, told The Times.

Experts in Germany shared the same worries.

"The new German government will neither be able to improve relations with the United States, nor will it be able to tackle key foreign policy issues in Europe," said Professor Manfred Wilke from the Free University in Berlin.

The situation also weighed heavily on financial markets, which before the election had hoped for a clean sweep by Merkel's conservatives and the middle-of-the-road Free Democrats (FDP), both of which had vowed deep economic reforms.

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