« Imagine | Home | What the…?!? »

Chaos!

What an incredible story developing in Germany right now! The above picture is a group of CDU supporters shell-shocked by the stunning early election results from a few days ago. Angela Merkel and the Christian Democratic Union were once expected to crush Chancellor Schröder and his Social Democrats in last Sunday’s elections.

Merkel and the CDU were then blitzkrieged by a chilling dose of reality.

People in the struggling eastern part of Germany weren’t quite ready to make it easier for companies to fire their employees in a nation already wallowing in unemployment woes, and they let Merkel know it. This is an unmitigated disaster for Merkel, who should have won this election hands down. Despite her initial popularity, opinion polls clearly handed the debate edge to Schröder (sound familiar?). Once leading by some 20 percentage points, the mighty CDU barely squeaked out a margin of “victory” of less than 1 point - hardly the mandate for governmental change that Merkel (below) and the CDU were hoping for.

Now scrambling to assemble a winning coalition in Germany’s parliamentary system of government, both Merkel and Schröder have a daunting task ahead of them - getting the government back on track while fighting for their political lives.

Good stuff.