German federal election, 1991

[Peter the Lefty]

      The 1990 elections were a success for the incumbent government.  As the incumbent Chancellor, Otto Graf Lambsdorff managed to win over many Easterners to his party, whose promise of "personal and economic freedom" resonated with many former GDR citizens.  Still, he was stronger in the West, where he held steady for the most part.  The overall vote percentage of the party was slightly lower than in 1988, but it had a greater percentage of the seats in the new Bundestag in Berlin.  The LBD was clearly the dominant party of the new political landscape. 
      The SPD suffered a horrendous result with only 19% of the overall vote.  Lafontaine failed to strike the right chord in the East, and many Eastern leftists still desired a form of socialism to the left of what the SPD was offering.  These voters, by-in-large, voted for the United Left, a hodge-podge of dissident far-leftists in the East.  While its Chancellor-candidate, Lafontaine was on the left of the SPD, he still wasn't able to reach out to these tendencies.  The SPD tanked in its former heartland, winning only 10.4% of the vote in the region.  It would later be pointed out that perhaps the VL voters were simply the type of people who would have voted for the pre-Bad Godesburger Program SPD, who had not underwent the ideological change to social democracy. 
      The CDU held steady, having managed to usurp the vote of its East German counterpart as well as the Democratic Awakening.  The party had been supported by many Easterners who were excited for the new economic and personal opportunities of capitalism and democracy, but had difficulty supporting the severity of Lambsdorff's economic liberalizations and hoped that a strong CDU would moderate him on the economic front.  It also managed to gain many Western votes who most likely felt the same way. 
      The CSU picked up many new votes in the West, as well as a fair amount in the East, under the nationalist and right-wing leadership of Franz Handlos.  Although it had been the Easterners of the party who had installed him, it was the former West where he performed strongest.  His skepticism of the European Union appeared to resonate across the new Germany.  The wave of nationalism experienced throughout the country also seems to have helped. 
      The FDP suffered a poor result in both East and West.  It was difficult to point to a reason for this decline.  It had been a bad election for the left in general.  In addition, the party was struggling to be noticed.  Some blamed the party's new leader, Günter Verheugen, but few could point to a single gaffe or decision he had made that might have cost the party.  Nonetheless, it suffered a mighty slide from 9% to 6.5%. 
      The Green Party in the West also suffered a slide.  With 6.8% of the vote in the West, and 5.4% of it nationally, it was declining from it's previous result of nearly 7 and a half percent.  The most obvious explanation was that Lafontaine had stolen much of their ground by making the environment a major campaign issue.  Others believed that it had chosen the wrong campaign issues by talking about its usual points while everyone else was talking about Germany.  Still, the result helped to empower the "realos" of the party who blamed the showing on the "fundi" faction's image problem. 
      The most shocking result, however, was the strong showing of the NPD, which won a wide swath of Eastern voters (indeed winning 12% of the vote in the region, making it the fourth largest party in the former GDR).  The present wave of nationalism (and long-suppressed Nazi-sympathies in the East) boiled over, it seemed.  With 4.3% of the overall vote, the party was clearly rising.  And as it had crossed the 5% threshold in the East, all Easterners who had voted for them would now be represented in the Bundestag.  That neo-Nazis would be strengthened as a result of reunification shocked the world, and allowed Mrs. Thatcher to give an "I-told-you-so"-esque statement soon afterward. 
      The United Left, an Eastern grouping of Trotskyists, Maoists, Christian Socialists, and supporters of the Titoist model of worker self-management, won a strong result of 13.8% in the East, putting it well past the 5% regional threshold.  It appeared that many Eastern democratic leftists saw the SPD's model of social democracy as a benevolent form of capitalism.  So many years of living under faux socialism, it seemed, had created a desire among many voters for real socialism. 
      The Eastern Green Party and the Alliance 90 ran on a joint list in the East.  Winning 6.8% of the Eastern vote (and therefore 1.4% of the national vote), the grouping would manage a very minuscule presence in the Bundestag. 
      The PDS was rejected across both the West and the East in a surprisingly strong freefall.  With only 2.1% of the national vote, it was clear that it would have no presence in the newly-reunified Germany. 

      Lambsdorff formed another coalition with both the CDU and the CSU, with his swearing-in for another term as Chancellor becoming the first to occur in the new capital of Berlin.  His government soon carried out a number of privatizations in the East, and many East German citizens who had grown up in cities were shocked to find out that certain swaths of farmland which had once belonged to parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, or even aunts or uncles, was being passed along to them.  Meanwhile, many who had worked for government-owned enterprises in the East now found themselves introduced to a new capitalist phenomenon: unemployment.  It was worsened when, in 1991, Lambsdorff's government made sharp cuts to unemployment benefits.  Once seen as a symbol of hope for many Easterners, he now faced their vitriolic hatred.  On one occasion, he was pelted with an egg while visiting an Eastern town with a high unemployment rate. 
      The European integration once talked about was also becoming a headache.  Lambsdorff had spoken of greater political union between the states of Europe, but the CDU was pushing him towards accepting monetary union as well.  French Finance Minister Jacques Delors had proposed a single currency for all of Europe, and the Europhiles of the CDU backed it.  Lambsdorff, an economist himself, was strongly against it.  The issue had hurt his relations with the CDU before, but it was moving increasingly into the spotlight. 
      With many in the CDU also opposed to the scale of Lambsdorff's welfare cuts, Schäuble brought down the government over the single-currency issue in 1991.  A new election was called for October. The opposition parties, which were still struggling to regroup, suddenly were forced into another election.  The new Germany was off to a rough start.

[Peter the Lefty]

      The Liberal Alliance of Germans (LBD) is running Otto Graf Lambsdorff for Chancellor once again.  The party is opposing any move toward a single currency while still supporting political union and the breaking down of the few barriers to free trade that still remain amongst European nations, as well as around the world.  The party also considers the welfare cuts in the East (and West) to be "painful but necessary" if a healthy free market economy is to be achieved.  Lambsdorff is also backing more tax cuts and privatizations.  
      The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was once again in a dilemma after the last election as to which direction in which to move.  Many of the party faithful felt that the party needed to win over Easterners, particularly those who had voted VL in the last election.  Others believed that the party must focus on winning votes from the right if there was ever to be another left-wing majority.  These members of the party rallied behind the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, Björn Engholm. The leftists of the party, meanwhile, hoped to see Lafontaine run again.  After the government collapsed, the party scrambled and nominated Lafontaine once again.  Lafontaine is denouncing the privatizations and welfare cuts of the Lambsdorff government.  He is promising to strengthen Germany's welfare state by increasing unemployment benefits, pensions, maternity benefits, allowances for single mothers, and disability insurance, as well as to make new investments in education, health, transportation, housing, and environmental conservation.  He is also supporting European integration, including the single currency.  
      The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is still lead by Wolfgang Schäuble, and has now broken decisively with the LBD.  It is promising that the most recent round of welfare cuts are to be the last that it will support.  Moreover, it has decisively stated its support of the single currency.  For this reason, it has not ruled out the possibility of joining the SPD as the junior partner in a pro-Euro coalition government provided that the latter's spending commitments be kept under control. However, should such a government be formed, it will be unlikely to last very long due to Schäuble's conservative positions on issues such as asylum seekers (not to mention budgets).
      The Christian Social Union (CSU) is playing up its status as the only party opposed to both political and monetary union, making itself increasingly right-wing and nationalistic.  It is running on a program of opposition to European integration, social conservatism, and more privatizations and spending cuts.  It is still lead by Franz Handlos.  
      The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is still lead by Günter Verheugen in spite of 1990's poor result.  It is opposing Lambsdorff's austerity program and supporting the notion of a single-currency in the European Union (which still has yet to be formally established).  Verheugen is promising to expand opportunities for the impoverished to find their way into better professions, as well as to make many socially liberal reforms (as is the SPD).  
      The Greens have merged with Alliance 90 and have adapted both names.  They've also taken the Eastern Green Party in.  The "realos" were strengthened as a result of the 1990 election, and were now clearly calling the shots.  A group of fundis then left the party and joined the United Left, giving it a presence in the West.  The Greens themselves were now more easily able to move closer to the SPD.  The party is running on a platform of environmental protection, women's rights, social justice, a phase out of nuclear energy, gay rights, and world peace.  The single currency idea is lukewarmly supported.  For the first time, it is open to a coalition with the SPD and FDP.
      The United Left (VL) is running in both East and West this time.  Still lead by Thomas Klein, it is promising to socialize many industries and turn them over to workers' collectives, as well as to vastly expand the welfare state and public services.  Support for the environment, gay rights, women's rights, and withdrawal from NATO is also supported.  The party is hoping to establish a firm far-left presence across the country.  It also opposes the single currency, considering it to be a capitalist tool.  
      The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD): Nazis with parliamentary representation who have made fascist statements in the Bundestag.
      The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) is running on a platform of reversing many privatizations, expanding Germany's welfare system and environmental programs, supporting women's rights and gay rights, and improving public services.  It still has the problem of being the SED's successor.  
      
      This time it's just a national 5% threshold.  

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

CSU

[traininthedistance]

Greens, now that they've finally come to their senses.

[H. Ross Peron]

CDU

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

SPD

[RogueBeaver]

CSU

[TNF]

SPD

Why no United Left?

United Left, for the record.

[Deus Naturae]

LBD

[Cassius]

CSU.

[Senator Spiral]

CSU

[Peter the Lefty]

Lol at these results

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

SPD

Why no United Left?

United Left, for the record.

I find the VL platform too unilaterally isolationist.

[Dr. Cynic]

I voted SPD and I hope to see a Green-SPD-FDP coalition.

[Peter the Lefty]

That'll be awesome.  Even though Petra Kelly is still leading the party, I suppose we'll probably see Chancellor Fischer soon.  Maybe we'll actually have a government that lasts its full term for once! 

[Peter the Lefty]

That'll be awesome.  Even though Petra Kelly is still leading the party, I suppose we'll probably see Chancellor Fischer soon.  Maybe we'll actually have a government that lasts its full term for once! 

Nevermind...here's hoping at least for a Green-SPD-FDP minority government that can rely on the VL for most things and the CDU for the single-currency.

[morgieb]

Voted Alliance 90.

More support for the left this time is itstl.

[Cassius]

Looks like the end of the line for Otto Graf Lambsdorff.

[Goldwater]

LBD

[Franknburger]

Looks like the end of the line for Otto Graf Lambsdorff.

Well,  I guess, though Peter forgot to mention about it, the Flick Affair has finally also made its way into this timeline. In the real world, Otto Graf Lambsdorff in 1987 got convicted for tax evasion. He, and several other politicians, had accepted bribes from the Flick company, at a time (1975)  when Flick had sold its share in Daimler-Benz to Deutsche Bank. Flick would have been liable to pay 986 million DM tax on the transaction profit, but requested tax exemption in accordance with a special reinvestment clause in the German tax code, which Lambsdorff, at that time Minister of Economy, granted.

German legislation at that time required bribing to actually have influenced political decisions, which the court didn't see proven, as Lambsdorff claimed the tax exemption had been given for pure technical considerations.  The payments received were usual donations to political parties that he "somehow" had forgotten to declare - hence the tax fraud conviction. Several other politicians from all political parties that existed at that time (Franz-Josef Strauss, Helmut Kohl, SPD Minister of Finance Hans Matthöfer) had also received payments, but were never put to court. The affair ultimately resulted in a new law on party financing (a/o limiting the maximum donation a political party may receive from one person/institution), and enhanced regulation on MPs reporting on their additional income. It shattered public confidence in "established parties" and gave quite a boost to the Greens that - non-existing in 1975 - were the only relevant Western party that hadn't been bribed.

[Peter the Lefty]

Looks like the end of the line for Otto Graf Lambsdorff.

Well,  I guess, though Peter forgot to mention about it, the Flick Affair has finally also made its way into this timeline. In the real world, Otto Graf Lambsdorff in 1987 got convicted for tax evasion. He, and several other politicians, had accepted bribes from the Flick company, at a time (1975)  when Flick had sold its share in Daimler-Benz to Deutsche Bank. Flick would have been liable to pay 986 million DM tax on the transaction profit, but requested tax exemption in accordance with a special reinvestment clause in the German tax code, which Lambsdorff, at that time Minister of Economy, granted.

German legislation at that time required bribing to actually have influenced political decisions, which the court didn't see proven, as Lambsdorff claimed the tax exemption had been given for pure technical considerations.  The payments received were usual donations to political parties that he "somehow" had forgotten to declare - hence the tax fraud conviction. Several other politicians from all political parties that existed at that time (Franz-Josef Strauss, Helmut Kohl, SPD Minister of Finance Hans Matthöfer) had also received payments, but were never put to court. The affair ultimately resulted in a new law on party financing (a/o limiting the maximum donation a political party may receive from one person/institution), and enhanced regulation on MPs reporting on their additional income. It shattered public confidence in "established parties" and gave quite a boost to the Greens that - non-existing in 1975 - were the only relevant Western party that hadn't been bribed.

Lambsdorff wasn't in government at the time of the Flick affair, so he wasn't approached in this tl.  But yes, the tax evasion is about to catch up with him.