Angela Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won the German parliamentary election on September 22 with an impressive 41.5% of the vote, a larger share than she won in 2005 or 2009. Unfortunately for Ms. Merkel, her party was unable to secure an outright majority of seats in parliament. Her former coalition partner, the center-right Free Democratic Party (FDP), failed to meet the 5% threshold to gain entry into parliament. As a result, she has been forced to negotiate with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).
The SPD, however, is playing hard-to-get. Though they got a comparatively puny 25.7% of the vote, The Economist reports that they are acting as if they won the election. Included in their long list of demands for forming a coalition government: implementation of a national minimum wage, rent control, and increasing pension benefits. The German Council of Economic Experts, often referred to as the "wise men," rejected all of these proposals as bad for the economy.
But the SPD is letting neither a bunch of economic eggheads nor dignity stand in the way of their populist agenda. They have openly flirted with the idea of forming a coalition with Die Linke, a far left-wing party with roots in communism and possible links to extremist activity. (Interestingly, the SPD has ruled out a coalition with "right-wing extremist" parties, but it has somehow rationalized partnering up with left-wing extremist ones.)
For her part, Ms. Merkel appears to be negotiating from a position of weakness rather than strength. She may be giving in to many of the SPD's demands, upsetting both her supporters and the business community in the process. This is puzzling. Pre-election polls overwhelmingly showed that Germans wanted Ms. Merkel to return as Chancellor, presiding over a grand left-right coalition as she had in 2005. The only thing preventing her from doing that is an obstructionist SPD.
German voters may very well punish such intransigence. Ms. Merkel ought to call for fresh elections.
(AP Photo)