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| Europe |
| German election: voters look set to spurn Angela Merkel's plea for fresh coalition |
| 2009-09-26 |
| Support for Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats has suffered a sharp drop in the run-up to tomorrow's general election as German voters look set to spurn her pleas for a fresh start in favour of another coalition with the Social Democrats of the Left. The Chancellor's supporters were yesterday clinging to the hope of a dramatic last-minute intervention by the 56-year East German born leader when she addresses a closing rally at a Berlin stadium. But Mrs Merkel is a lacklustre speaker so the event was unlikely to reverse the collapse in her support. A far more dynamic performance by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister who is chancellor candidate for the SPD, has made his party the big beneficiary in the opinion polls. A Forsa poll released yesterday put Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on 33 per cent, less than the disastrous 35.2 per cent it won in the 2005 election. Combined support for her preferred coalition partners, the CDU and the Free Democrats, has dropped as low as 46 per cent – down from a solid 52 per cent just three weeks ago. By contrast Mr Steinmeier's SPD has gained up to five points to 25 per cent. |
| Posted by:ed |