Crucial state poll defeat not to affect austerity measures, says Merkel
In a blow to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her Christian Democratic Union party lost in the country's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia, but she said the poll defeat would not affect her tough austerity measures for the euro zone.
The poll results, coming ahead of next year's federal elections, show Merkel's party winning about 26% of the vote a sharp drop from the 35% it got in 2010 and 45% in 2005, when she took office.
The opposition Social Democrats and Greens garnered about 39% and 11% respectively securing the majority they need to form a governing coalition. Merkel's national coalition partner, the Free Democrats, managed 8%, more than the 5% needed for representation in state parliament.
Merkel acknowledged Monday that her conservative party's loss in North Rhine-Westphalia was a "bitter, painful defeat", but stressed that it would not affect her tough austerity policies.
Addressing a news conference in Berlin, she said the defeat would not weaken her and offered to hold talks with opposition parties in a bid to ensure passage of the fiscal pact through the German parliament. She said that her policy on "the issues in Europe that await us" will remain unaffected.
North Rhine-Westphalia has almost a quarter of Germany's 82 million people and an economy bigger than Switzerland. The loss is especially significant because the campaign was largely framed as a referendum on Merkel's austerity policies.
It was the second defeat for the conservatives within a week with her party securing the lowest voting share in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. The governing Christian Democrat-Free Democrat coalition was ousted in the polls.
The conservatives are in power in six of Germany's 17 federal states.
Source: Germany News.Net
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