(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The junior partner in Germany’s governing coalition has failed to recover lost public support, according to a poll by FG Wahlen released by ZDF. 25 per cent of respondents would vote for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the next election to the Federal Diet, while 40 per cent would back the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) or the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU).

The Left Party (Linke) is third with 11 per cent, followed by the Green Party (Grune) with 10 per cent, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with nine per cent.

Official results from the September 2005 election to the Federal Diet gave the CDU and the CSU 226 seats, with the SPD a close second with 222 legislators. Neither of the two main parties was able to assemble a coalition government with their preferred partners. In November 2005, CDU leader Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first female head of government. The current administration includes members of the CDU, CSU and SPD.

On Aug. 20, Merkel’s cabinet approved a bill that would allow the government to stop foreign takeovers of German companies by sovereign wealth funds. The Finance Ministry said that investment via such funds—usually coming from resource-rich countries like Russia or the Gulf states—will be investigated if they seek to control more than 25 per cent of the stake in a German company. Economy minister Michael Glos declared: "Germany is and remains open for foreign investments. The majority of foreign investments will be unaffected."

Germany’s next federal ballot is tentatively scheduled for September 2009.

Polling Data

What party would you vote for in the next federal election?

Source: FG Wahlen / ZDF
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,263 German adults, conducted from Aug. 12 to Aug. 14, 2008. Margin of error is 2.7 per cent.

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