New German government coalition in doubt as top socialist quits

LISBETH KIRK

01.11.2005 @ 09:53 CET

The newly built German governing coalition, lead by Angela Merkel, has been severely shaken after Franz Muntefering, chairman of one of the coalition parties, the Social Democrats, said on Monday (31 October) that he will step down.

Mr Muntefering will not run for re-election as leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) in November after losing a key power struggle within his own party.

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Tensions erupted following a Social Democrat party rally which objected to Mr Muntefering’s hand-picked candidate to become the new secretary general of the party.

The party instead elected the unofficial leader of the SPD's left wing, Andrea Nahles, for the top post.

Conceding the election, Mr Muntefering said "I can no longer be party chairman under these conditions".

Franz Muntefering was a key figure in the negotiations forming the new grand coalition between left and right-leaning parties in Germany, lead by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader, Angela Merkel.

Mr Muntefering was meant to serve as vice chancellor and labour minister in the new government, but has now said that he is not sure whether he will do so.

Stoiber may stay in Bavaria

The turmoil has also given another key figure in the new coalition, Bavarian prime minister Edmund Stoiber and leader of the Christian Democrat sister party (CSU) second thoughts about his role in the new government.

The SPD chairman Franz Muntefering is "an authority and cornerstone in the grand coalition," said Edmund Stoiber in Berlin last night, according to Spiegel Online.

Sources in the CSU party explained, according to Die Welt, that Mr Stoiber had personal trust in Mr Muntefering and that the resignation meant the basis for the grand coalition government had crumbled.

"It would be a completely different SPD in the future than what it was under the previous leadership of Mr Muntefering", the paper reported.

German political stalemate

The row will prolong uncertainty over the political leadership in Germany, the EU's biggest economy.

The country has been without effective leadership since July, when the red-green coalition led by chancellor Gerhard Schroder gave in.

The country's parliament was dissolved in July by president Horst Kohler and elections set for 18 September, which saw Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats narrowly beat chancellor Gerhard Schroder's Social Democrats.

Angela Merkel is to be voted in as Germany's first female chancellor on 22 November, as long as the grand coalition deal holds.

But before that is to happen a Social Democrat party congress in two weeks in Karlsruhe must approve both Andrea Nahles as the new secretary general and the agreement for a grand coalition with the Christian Democrats.