Germany's SPD hit by regional poll losses

Germany's social democrats, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partners, suffered their worst-ever electoral setback in regional polls in Bremen on Sunday, raising questions about party leader Sigmar Gabriel's hopes of gaining ground nationally on Ms Merkel's conservative CDU.

The SPD-led coalition retained control of the depressed port-city but with a reduced majority, as both the social democrats and their Green partners lost votes to rivals, including the CDU, the eurosceptic AfD, the liberal FDP and the far-left Linke.

The SPD's losses in a city that it has ruled since the second world war will do nothing to help Mr Gabriel's efforts to close the gap between his party and Ms Merkel's nationally.

The latest spy scandal, in which German intelligence allegedly helped the US NSA snoop on European targets, seems to have had little impact - despite widespread media reports of it denting public trust in the chancellor.

"This is a black eye for the red-green coalition," said Ralf Stegner, the mayor of Hamburg and a prominent SPD leader, pointing out that the real problem in Bremen was the low turnout - at 50 per cent, the lowest-ever in a regional election in western Germany. "When half don't vote, we are doing something wrong," said Mr Stegner on national radio.

With almost all votes counted on Monday, the SPD looked set to win 32.9 per cent of the vote, down from 38.6 per cent in 2011, with the Green vote dropping to 15.3 per cent from 22.6 per cent. The CDU rose to 22.6 per cent from 20.4 per cent, Linke rose to 9.2 per cent from 5.6 per cent, and the FDP to 5.6 per cent to 2.4 per cent. The AfD, despite recent national leadership turmoil, scored 5.5 per cent, and entered the regional assembly at its first attempt since it was founded only in 2013.

As Mr Stegner pointed out, the success of the smaller parties is partly attributable to disillusioned mainstream voters staying away from the polls. The political scene in Bremen is viewed as especially dull because the region's heavy debts, high unemployment and poor economic prospects give local politicians little room to manoeuvre.

However, commentators drew some national lessons, mainly for the SPD. Mr Gabriel has since the 2013 parliamentary election successfully pushed social-democrat policies, notably a minimum wage, and generally won praise for his competence. However, the SPD's poll ratings remain stuck on 25 per cent, little changed from the 2013 national election result, while the CDU has stayed on 40 per cent. The voters' message seems to be that as long as Ms Merkel retains her personal support, her party will remain on top and be in a strong position for the next regional polls in the wealthy southern region of Baden-Wurttemberg next year and for the next Bundestag election in 2017.

Meanwhile, Mr Gabriel's efforts to woo the middle ground by avoiding ideological flourishes seems to be creating space on the left for Linke, even in SPD strongholds like Bremen. The further the party reaches into the west from its heartlands in the east, the harder it will be for the SPD nationally.

For the AfD, the Bremen success comes despite months of intraparty dispute which seemed to escalate on Monday with reports that party founder Bernd Lucke may be contemplating resignation. He has faced criticism over his forceful leadership style amid conflicts between moderate eurosceptics and radicals demanding an immigration clampdown.

In a letter to party members on Sunday, Mr Lucke said: "I don't think that appeals for unity will help here any more. The basic approaches of these two groups cannot be united." Commenting on reports of his possible departure, he wrote: "The only truth in this rumour is that I am very worried about the AfD."

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