*** Here are the first estimates in percentages:
Saarland: Die Linke 21, SPD 25; Greens 5.5
This border area with France is the home of the leader of the Left Party, Oskar Lafontaine, who was head of the list. The SPD, who led the region loses 12 points.
Saxony : Die Linke 20.5; SPD 10, Greens 6
Scores are NDP (ext right): 5.5
Thuringia : Die Linke 26; SPD 18.5 ; Greens 5.5
These two regions are located in the former East Germany. Die Linke
disrupts the electoral game in Germany
THE WORLD 08/31/2009
Berlin correspondent
Triumphal Oskar Lafontaine! The leader of the radical left German Die Linke (The Left) and former head of the Social Democrats (SPD) had more than one reason to celebrate Sunday night. In Thuringia and Saxony, two Länder of former East Germany, his party has emerged as the second political force. Behind Merkel's CDU and far, far away, in front of the SPD.
But it is above the Saar that Mr. Lafontaine was the gaze. In this small region located near the French border where he was himself a candidate, and he directed between 1985 and 1998 under the colors of the SPD, the Left Party garnered 21.3% of votes. Well beyond what he predicted the polls. The result is unprecedented in the west Germany: five years ago, the PDS, the forerunner of the Left Party, was sentenced to a very modest 2.3%.
"Die Linke has the wind in their sails," insisted his troops before the tribune, cheering the announcement of results. Certainly, the radical left is the winner of these elections which have scratched both the SPD CDU. "We are now one of the big three" was decked Dietmar Bartsch, the party's general secretary.
SPECIAL STATUS
A month general election, the scores obtained by Die Linke are, of course, be transposed to the federal level. In the former East Germany, this party, which brings disappointment of social democracy and the former communist East Germany, has a special status. In these regions still affected by an unemployment rate sometimes twice the average for the West, the vote for the Left is especially identity. The results in Thuringia (27.4%) and Saxony (about 21%) proved once again its anchor.
In Saarland, the situation is quite different. Former Minister-President and former mayor of Saarbrücken, Oskar Lafontaine has always enjoyed a high of sympathy in his native Land. That person - the "Napoleon of the Saarland" - and his party less than Voters overwhelmingly supported.
polls Sept. 27 to talk about besides a very different language: Die Linke is credited with 9% of the vote. Prudent Staff party's goal is "10% or more. Nevertheless. A little over two years after its creation, Die Linke has once again demonstrated its ability to disrupt the traditional game of coalitions.
Sunday night, a big question concerned commentators, analysts and politicians gathered on the television shows: the SPD in Saarland, he will ally with the Greens and particularly the radical left, a first in the West Germany, to end a government dominated by the Christian Democrats? For now, the remains unclear and negotiations will be lengthy and complicated.
In Thuringia as Die Linke is a matter of conscience for the Social Democrats that it exceeds by nearly ten points. Together, the two rivals could reverse the outgoing minister-president, the conservative Dieter Althaus. Coalitions called "red-red" is not a taboo in the states of former East Germany. But now, the Left Party are demanding to appoint themselves the new head of government. A real blow to the SPD.
At 66 years, is the charismatic Lafontaine revenge on his former comrades: he tickles on his left that party has become too centrist for his taste. Sunday, the "old lion" has even paid the luxury of excluding a coalition with the Social Democrats at the federal level, arguing for too large ideological differences between the two parties.
Mary Verges
Article published in the edition from 01.09.09
site a group of revolutionary socialists in Germany (in German): Marx21 Netwek Sozialismus für Internationalen
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