Merkel candidate wins with narrow margin
Christian Democratic Union Party candidate Christian Wulff kisses his wife Bettina
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government called for unity on Thursday after rebels forced a humiliating vote over the presidency that could lead to a watering down of her austerity package.
The struggle to get Christian Wulff elected to the largely ceremonial post of head of state on Wednesday, even when Ms Merkel had a clear majority on paper, showed growing disenchantment with the leadership of her nine-month-old centre-right alliance.
Analysts said party cadres sent a clear message to Merkel that she needed to make major changes and possibly tone down her recent 80 billion euro austerity drive, criticised at home as unfair and abroad as likely to hinder the world recovery.
Coming in the wake of a series of resignations that deprived Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union of its most experienced figures — as well as Horst Koehler’s sudden departure from the presidency after comments he made while visiting German troops in Afghanistan — the vote cast doubts on her future.
Dozens of members of Parliament from Ms Merkel’s coalition twice voted against Mr Wulff, in the special assembly, with most of the rebels only obeying in the third round when Ms Merkel and her two top coalition partners made a personal plea for unity.
“The coalition has to improve its teamwork. Now we’ve got a chance to show that. We’ve got the message: we’ve got to start working better as a coalition,” said the second in charge of Ms Merkel’s CDU, Hermann Groehe, on German television.
Some newspapers called it a “disaster” for the government and especially Ms Merkel and her main ally, Guido Westerwelle of the liberal Free Democrats, who is her foreign minister.
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