GERMANY: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has vowed to fight on after accepting the blame for his party's double defeat in Sunday's regional elections, which he called the "bitterest defeat" of his political career.
The Social Democrats (SPD) lost control of Mr Schröder's home state of Lower Saxony, where he was once governor, after a landslide election that saw the Christian Democrats (CDU) capture an absolute majority in the state of Hesse.
"I don't want to dispute what many of you are already aware of, that I have made many mistakes in our first four months," said Mr Schröder, blaming himself for the results which are among the worst in the SPD's history. But when asked if he considered resigning, he replied: "I'm not thinking about that, nor is anyone else." A government spokesman ruled out talk of a cabinet shake-up.
Sunday's elections gave voters a chance to voice their concerns about the stagnating economy and their anger and surprise at tax hikes after last year's general election.
The SPD party leadership admitted in a statement that the disastrous election results "were impossible to gloss over". The leadership said the elections were "an expression of the unhappiness of many voters, something that we will take seriously and which will have an indisputable influence on federal politics".
The most important influence will be on how Mr Schröder's government goes about passing legislation. The two CDU wins have copper-fastened the conservative majority in the Bundesrat, the upper house where the federal states are represented, enabling them to comfortably veto some, if not all, new legislation. The CDU has promised to work constructively and to avoid "blockade politics".
Mr Schröder said yesterday he would "accept this readiness to co-operate" but rejected talk of an informal grand coalition between the CDU and the government.
Political analysts said it was final proof for the Chancellor that his brand of populist politics without clear concepts will no longer find favour with voters.
Analysis of voter behaviour yesterday showed that Germans went to the polls to punish the government rather than to back the CDU.
Nevertheless, the result has given a confidence boost to the CDU, still bitter after their hair's breath general election defeat last September. Dr Angela Merkel, the CDU leader, said she felt the vote was a protest against Mr Schröder's decision to rule out participating in any military action in Iraq.
"Germany is bound to two important lessons from World War II. 'No war ever again' is an important lesson. But it's just as important for Germany never again to act alone," she said. "I am convinced that a majority of Germans also see it that way." Recent opinion polls suggest that 59 per cent of Germans oppose participation in military action against Iraq.
