and it doesn't work. It appears that Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have won the most votes in the German election but Chancellor Shroeder will refuse to give up his position and try to from another coalition government.
..."They claim a political mandate but this is something I cannot understand," Schroeder told supporters at his Social Democratic Party (SPD) headquarters in Berlin.
"Those who wanted change in the office of chancellor have failed grandly. I do not understand how the (conservatives) could be so arrogant and self-assured now they are facing a disastrous election result," Schroeder said.
Even though the Merkel led CDU looks to be at 35.2% and the Shroeder led SPD are at 34%.
I enjoyed this comment on the Der Spiegel site.
...despite leading a party with the best results on Sunday, it isn't even clear that Angela Merkel will become chancellor. Social Democrat party leader Franz Müntefering on Sunday claimed that the election results show that German voters want Schröder to continue as chancellor. Despite the seeming absurdity of the statement, mathematically at least, Schröder's SPD could form a coalition government with the Green Party and the Left Party. The SPD and the Greens, however, have both said they would not consider governing with the Left Party.
Does anyone really believe that if the Harper led Conservatives beat the Martin led Liberals that PM Martin would not try to hang on with a
coalition with the NDP? I have a hard time believing that wouldn't happen if the Conservatives beat the Liberals by something like 115-110.
Update: A lot more on the German election can be found on David's Medienkritik.
