(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Many German voters would support the Christian-Democratic Union (CSU) and the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) in next month's federal election, according to a poll by Emnid published in Morgenpost. 42 per cent of respondents would vote for the alliance in the Federal Diet ballot.

The governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) of chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is second with 30 per cent, followed by the Left Party (Linke)—which merges the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG)—with 10 per cent, the Green Party (Grune) with seven per cent, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) also with seven per cent.

On Jul. 1, Schroeder deliberately lost a no-confidence motion in the Federal Diet after a 151-296 vote, with 148 abstentions. A federal election has been scheduled for Sept. 18. The CDU has named Angela Merkel as its chancellor candidate. Germany has never had a female head of government.

The FDP is considered as the most likely coalition partner for the CDU-CSU alliance. Support for the combined political organizations is at 49 per cent, while the prospective total for the SPD, Grune and Linke is 47 per cent.

On Aug. 27, Linke leader Oskar Lafontaine ruled out any post-election collaboration with Schroeder, declaring, "The Social Democrats are no partners for us. They're keeping to their welfare-cutting agenda. That's unacceptable to us. (...) It's definitely clear that Schroeder won't lead the government after Sept. 18. Maybe some in the SPD will then feel like admitting that his policies have simply been wrong."

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