Politics Germany: CDU and Left: Proprtnl represnttin shifts against Socialists, awards smaller Left parties & Free Enterprisers

Jeff McMahon replying to Bill Dupray's column "American Conservative" on True/Slant summarizes the results of the recent German federal elections. Dupray's article is entitled "Conservatives crush Liberals in German elections" (Sept27,2k9).

The Christian Democrats, who can hardly be called conservative by American standards, lost ground since the 2005 election. Based on preliminary results, they dropped from 35.2 percent of the vote in 2005 to 33.8 percent in 2009. [That's a drop of 1.4 % -- P]

The Social Democrats did indeed lose 11 percent, but those votes went left, not right.

The Free Democrats Party, a liberal party, gained about 5 percent. [I'd say the Free Democrats are to the r+t of the Christians. Therefore, some of the Christian Democrats voters probably moved r+tward went to Frees, assuming that the leadership of the CDU woud hold and the need to ensure a more r+tward ally was uppermost in that segment's thinking.]

Die Linke, The Left Party, gained about 3 percent. [Left the hemoraging SDU.]

The Greens gained about 3 percent. [Left the hemoraging SDU.]

(Minor parties gained about 2 percent). [Probably some Christian Dems drained out to the more funamentalist Protestant parties which gained no seats -- unless the left spectrum includes more particles than I had thawt.]

McMahon's characterization of the Free Democrats may be misleading to some North American readers. The Free Democratic Party is free-enterprise, not however a libertarian party, and certainly not a "Liberal Party" comparable to the Liberals in Canada or the UK, or the American Democratic Party.

The math suggests that voters leaving the SDU who went leftward -- Link 3 %, Greens 3% -- and even adding the 2% voting for minor parties which apparently will gain no seats -- only adds up to 8% (not 11%). Thus, it seems some of the SDU vote went either to the CDU or the Free Enterprisers or both.

As leader of the Christian Democrats, Angela Merkel, will remain Chancellor and head of government of the German Federal Republic. A pre-election article by Michael Spreng in Der Spiegel claimed "Merkel plans campaign with nationalistic overtone" (Aug14,2k9). The nationalism has to do with all-Germany unity of which Merkel is the chief symbol, due to her origin in East Germany, connection to the Lutheran Church in opposition to the Communists, and the universal recovery of German history and culture insofar as it has discarded the entire Hitler era. It was apparently a soft and gathering nationalism that hardly deserved the "-ism" label. But that's Der Spiegel for you.

-- Politicarp