The red-red coalition in Berlin is well and truly vorbei. While the SPD still returned the strongest percentage of the vote – albeit slightly reduced – the left party die Linke had a disappointing result, meaning that they are no longer viable coalition partners in the local government. The CDU – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party – gained 23 per cent of the vote, seeing their popularity increase slightly in Berlin, by two per cent.
There are three stories dominating the headlines here in Berlin, however: the demise locally of the Free Democratic party, which is Merkel’s coalition party in the Bundestag; the potential of a Green coalition; and the result that has really shaken the major parties – the election, with nine per cent of the vote, of 15 representatives of the Pirate party.
So how did the Pirates do it, and what does it mean for Berlin? It does, perhaps, reflect a certain dissatisfaction with the established parties, and many big players – Merkel included – have described it as a ‘protest vote.’ The incumbent mayor Klaus Wowereit, who will serve a third term for the SPD, has criticised their dearth of social policies, as well as the fact that of the 15 members elected only one is a woman.
The Pirates have, however, been very open about their shortcomings – in fact, being so open may well have been the basis of their success. From the birth of the party and a focus on file sharing and data protection has spawned what they call a ‘fluid democracy’ which allows party members to directly propose policies and express their views on an online forum. This is a powerful formula for a city which has been showing all the signs of being tired of feeling disenfranchised.
The FDP, who form part of the national coalition, suffered a wipeout of all their Berlin representatives in the election, receiving less than two per cent of the vote. This is significant not only insofar as that it may foreshadow a change in Germany’s national leadership – widely publicised squabbling within the national coalition has not inspired the confidence of the German people – but also when this result is compared with other elements of the Berlin electorate.
Indeed, the far-right National Democratic party of Germany actually received a greater share of the vote than the FDP at the election, a result which is particularly disturbing given the NPD’s unpleasant campaign – which included posters featuring immigrants on a magic carpet and the depiction of a motorcycle and the slogan: ‘Give gas.’ This is a phrase which in German can mean ‘get going,’ but has been seen as a deliberate and offensive reference to the Holocaust.
So what now for Berlin? Almost certainly a SPD-Green coalition, which will evoke the national coalition led by Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. A compromise will have to be found between the two parties, however – transport divided their campaigns, with the Greens wanting to privatise Berlin’s S-Bahn, part of the metro network, and being largely opposed to the extension of the A100 motorway project.
Volker Ratzmann, the leader of the Greens in the Berlin local government, has appeared very keen to compromise on these issues – the very issues which were the reason for the Greens’ success. The front page of Wednesday’s Berliner Morgenpost carries a caricature of Herr Ratzmann in a full racing car driver outfit, and the news that the first few dissidents against the ‘rotten coalition compromise’ are emerging from the Greens.
The idea of a party abandoning its true colours in a bid for power as part of a coalition is no longer a novel concept in the UK, but Berliners will be wary that instead of a mixture of two shades of red in the town hall, they will now be governed by an unpleasant brown.
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Jack Tunmore is a member of Progress
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Photo: Piratenpartei Deutschland
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http://www.piratenpartei.de/unsere_ziele
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