BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right
CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition lost further ground in the Bundesrat,
the upper house representing the 16 state governments, following its
election defeat in the southwestern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg
on Sunday.

According to the preliminary official results, the ecologist Greens
and the center-left SPD mustered enough votes to form a coalition
government in the state in which a large share of the nation’s car and
engineering industry is located. Incumbent CDU prime minister Stefan
Mappus has conceded the defeat of his CDU-FDP coalition government.

Merkel’s coalition lost its majority in the Bundesrat last year
after an election defeat in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most
populous state. It currently controls only 31 out of 69 total seats and
so already has to rely on the opposition to pass legislation.

The defeat in Baden-Wuerttemberg will cost the Merkel camp another
six seats in the Bundesrat and will make it even harder for the
government to get its policy proposals approved. Most fiscal legislation
requires the ratification of both houses of parliament.

Until Sunday’s vote, Baden-Wuerttemberg was a traditional
stronghold of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, having governed in the state
without interruption since 1953. Its defeat there is a major
embarrassment for Merkel.

Still, Merkel’s position as chancellor and head of the CDU will
likely not to be challenged within her party. However, it is possible
there will be a small cabinet reshuffle in Berlin.

In another election on Sunday in the southwestern state of
Rhineland-Palatinate, incumbent SPD prime minister Kurt Beck could
win enough votes to continue governing. He announced that he plans to
form a coalition with the Greens.

Regional issues in both state elections were overshadowed by the
Japanese nuclear catastrophe. The ecologist Greens saw their share of
votes roughly double in Baden-Wuerttemberg and more than triple in
Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Merkel camp had tried a U-turn of their previously
nuclear-friendly policy shortly before the elections but most voters saw
this as just a tactical move to win votes.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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