Germany’s defeated Social Democrats (SPD) may struggle to rally support for a ‘grand coalition’ with Angela Merkel’s conservatives from activists who fear the party could wither further in the shadow of the popular chancellor.
The SPD suffered its second-worst post-war performance at weekend polls that confirmed Merkel’s domination of the political stage. Its leaders meet under chairman Sigmar Gabriel today to decide how best to salvage party fortunes.
The deliberations amount to a Zerreissprobe (breaking test) for the SPD and for Gabriel. Joining a grand coalition under Merkel is seen by some as a “lose-lose” proposition for Germany’s oldest political party.
“The SPD had an extremely poor result and there are a lot of people in the party who’d rather stay in opposition,” said Thomas Jaeger, political scientist at Cologne University. “They fear the party’s identity will be lost in a grand coalition.”
The SPD chairman, already under pressure over the party’s drubbing, has himself been blamed for picking the wrong candidate for chancellor – a centrist for a left-leaning campaign strategy – and the wrong policy focus: raising taxes.
But the man with a booming voice and sharp tongue, still in command of Germany’s second biggest party, will be pivotal in deciding whether to accept being Merkel’s junior partner again.
For some, the fate of Merkel’s allies in her last coalition, the Free Democrats, is a salutary lesson. The party had lost so much support since creation of the government in 2009 that it failed to win a seat for the first time since 1949.
Nearly two-thirds of Germans want the SPD to join Merkel’s conservatives in a ‘grand coalition’ government. But many in the SPD do not want to get run into the ground as unappreciated and unrewarded partners in an alliance with the woman known to detractors as the ‘Black Widow’ of German politics.
Gabriel, 54, has sat on the fence in his public comments since Sunday’s election left the SPD with just 25.7 per cent of the vote, their second worst post-war performance after the 23-per cent debacle in 2009 following four years with Merkel.
“The SPD is not waiting in line after Frau Merkel ruined her previous coalition partner,” Gabriel said on Sunday evening.
A day later, he already sounded less opposed to the idea of repeating the right-left alliance of 2005-2009, saying the SPD would be prepared to listen to what Merkel had to offer.
“The result is open,” he said.
Gabriel is the man to watch today and in weeks to come. A former high school teacher, who spoke for the first time this year of his strained relationship with his father, a committed Nazi, Gabriel has managed to stabilise the SPD since taking over in 2009.