Schroeder quits as party leader

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Schroeder quits as party leader
 
 
Mr Schroeder faced growing criticism in his party
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has announced his resignation as chairman of his centre-left party.
"I will concentrate on my work as chancellor and head of government," he told a news conference.

The decision comes after mounting criticism in the party of his economic reform agenda and record low ratings.

Mr Schroeder named Franz Muentefering, the party's current parliamentary group leader, as the man he would like to succeed him as chairman of the Social Democrats.

  I think the difficulties we have had in the process of communication justify concentrating our strength in this way

Gerhard Schroeder  
A special party conference will be held in March to appoint the new leader.

The BBC's Ray Furlong in Berlin says Mr Schroeder has never been a particularly popular leader within his party.

Mr Schroeder admitted as he announced his decision on Friday that his leadership suffered from communication problems with the party's rank and file.

"I think the difficulties we have had in the process of communication justify concentrating our strength in this way," he said.

He told a hastily-arranged news conference that Germany was currently in its "most important reform stage since World War II" and he was committed to this process.

'Closer to left'

Mr Muentefering is seen as being closer to the party's left wing and core voters.

 
Mr Muentefering is a key ally of the chancellor, but more popular in the party
If appointed, he will have to lead the Social Democrats through a marathon of more than 10 state and local elections this year.

Mr Schroeder's "Agenda 2010" reforms, pushed through parliament last year, are particularly unpopular with left-wingers in his party, who say core principles are being betrayed.

He had to repeatedly threaten to resign as chancellor last year to quell left-wing revolts in his party.

Reforms 'essential'

Mr Schroeder says the programme of welfare cuts and labour market reforms is essential to reviving the stagnant German economy and adapting it to an ageing population.

The reforms include a new requirement for patients to pay 10 euros (12.50 dollars) per quarter for doctors' visits, which were previously free.

Germany's Social Democrats suffered several setbacks in state elections last year.

They have also hit an all-time low of about 25% in opinion polls, and lost tens of thousands of members.

Mr Schroeder first became party leader in 1999, a year after he was elected Chancellor.

His great leftist rival, Oskar Lafontaine stepped aside as both chairman and finance minister after losing a power struggle with him.



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[Filuwaúrdjan]

Lewis is right... at the last election Schroeder, who had been written off by the polling firms after the SPD's appalling showing in Sachsen-Anhalt and by the huge lead that the Chief Redneck of Bavaria had, came back from the dead to scrape out a narrow win.

BTW 2002 was the CDU(not including the CSU)'s 3rd worst ever result... their worst ever result was in 1949 and their second worst ever result was in 1998.

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There is no way that the SPD is going to win anything in Bavaria.
Trust me on this...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ah... So the media misrepresented something? Theres a suprise

Do you know where I can find a map of direct election seats for the 2002 election?
I have the results for each one but without a map I'm not sure where they are (eg. Potsdam-Potsdam-Mittelmark II-Teltow-Fläming II)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ah... So the media misrepresented something? Theres a suprise

Do you know where I can find a map of direct election seats for the 2002 election?
I have the results for each one but without a map I'm not sure where they are (eg. Potsdam-Potsdam-Mittelmark II-Teltow-Fläming II)

http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/wahlen/bundestagswahl2002/deutsch/wkeint2002/karten/index.html

Thanks

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's more extreme than in the U.K?!?!!?!

Amazing...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Is it true that Oskar Lafontaine is making a comeback?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It would have been worth it just to annoy The Sun...

Over here the 60+ vote Tory and most of the under 25's would never vote Tory under any circumstances...
There are some huge regional differences (eg. Labour won over 60% in the North East and only a bit over 30% in the South East)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It would have been worth it just to annoy The Sun...

Over here the 60+ vote Tory and most of the under 25's would never vote Tory under any circumstances...

I saw a table on that a while ago and the trends certainly pointed in the same direction, but it was nowhere as extreme as in Germany. But if you look at the US, or Italy, or even France, you don't get this split (you get an embryonic verson of it in France, I think)
Then again, I think the main difference is in Labour's strength among old working class people. The turnout problem is worse on your island, and the decline of the Conservatives even more developed.

Turnout is a problem... just 59% last election...
And we are looking at under 20% for the Euro' elections...

But yes, the main difference would be the fact that Labour has an unshakable hold on most working class communities from cradle to grave.
Politics in the U.K has always been far more class based than most other countries, but I'm not really sure why.
It might be to do with the size of the coalfields.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

1999 was also pretty bleak for the SPD...

Why is the CDU blocking things that they would normally agree to?
It doesn't make a lot of sense to me...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeesssss... but it's still morally wrong...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeesssss... but it's still morally wrong...

What you mean, morally? This is Politics.
And do not be led to a wrong conclusion by that "Christian" in the name.

Does Germany have a Trades Description Act?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Christian Democrats of the 1st Republic were not really a party... more like a very, very, very big coalition of special interests... kind of like the LDP in Japan...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Now, now... Bush isn't linked to the Cosa Nostra...