On January 27, people in the state of Hesse elected a new parliament (Landtag). Christian Democrats (CDU, with their incumbent prime minister Roland Koch), the sort of Liberals (FDP), the Social Democrats (SPD, with their prime minister candidate Andrea Ypsilanti) and the Greens competed. So did the Left Party.
The CDU and the SPD are Germany’s biggest parties, and they usually lead governments on the federal and the state levels. The FDP and the Greens are classical junior partners – the FDP usually for the CDU (but once in a while also with the SPD), and the Greens usually with the SPD (but once in a while also with the CDU).
The “Left” isn’t considered democratic by many of is political competitors. But that isn’t what made them controversial in Hesse. The CDU and FDP wouldn’t even think of a coalition with the Left Party, because their platforms would never fit. And the SPD had ruled any cooperation with the Left Party out. The elections in January produced no winning coalition – neither the CDU and the FDP, nor the SPD and the Greens. The most likely choice was a “grand coalition” between the CDU and the SPD, but the social democrats’ chair woman and candidate for prime minister, Andrea Ypsilani, began talks with the Left Party, in spite of her promise before the elections not to do so. The roadmap was a coalition between the SPD and the Greens, and support from the “Left” without becoming a coalition partner themselves.
Ypsilanti’s first try to get approval for her move failed, because one single SPD member of parliament, Dagmar Metzger, refused to vote for Ypsilanti if she depended on Left Party support. After long waves of campaigning within the SPD’s faction in Hesse’s parliament to turn opponents to the plan around, Ypsilanti took another foray. Today, it failed. Before the vote was taken to parliament, four SPD members of parliament stated publicly that they would not vote for Ypsilanti. In March, one of Germany’s biggest conservative newspapers criticised the SPD because all but one were ready to renege on a promise that many or most of its supporters considered essential. But one was a lot already. The CDU probably wouldn’t have seen any “renegades” at all in a similar situation.
Never thought that I might be happy when a SPD candidate fails. But this time I am. Here are four politicians who take their old promise seriously. The SPD may not be, but should be, proud of them.
Tags: accountability, conscience, corruption
