Lymec-PM: Germany turns more liberal: historical victory for FDP (28. September 2009)
The European Liberal Youth – LYMEC warmly welcomes the results of yesterday’s German elections. A historic blow was given to Germany's socialists as the Social Democratic Party (SPD) only gathered 23% of the votes – its worst result since World War 2. Smaller losses, but also its worst result in 60 years, were seen by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Angela Merkel. In stark contrast, the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) won its best result ever with 14,6% of the votes.
Reacting to this news, LYMEC President Aloys Rigaut stated: “This is a good day for liberals not only in Germany, but across Europe. A coalition between the conservative CDU and the liberal FDP will replace the last four years' conservative-socialist coalition, which was 'grand' in name only. One of the European Union’s biggest economies will now be governed by economic reason instead of being plagued by standstill.”
More than 60 million people were eligible to vote in Europe's largest national electorate. Half of the seats in the German Bundestag (federal diet) are directly elected, the rest via party lists using proportional representation. The party or coalition of parties with most seats elects the chancellor for a four-year mandate.
Johannes Vogel, President of Junge Liberale (JuLis), youth organisation of the FDP, and now himself elected into Parliament, commented: “I want to thank all the active young liberals who contributed to this great result! With such a strong FDP in the next government, we can and will make sure that civil liberties are protected and that intergenerational fairness will prevail.”
LYMEC Vice President Alexander Plahr added: “It is very likely that Germany will now get a liberal Foreign Minister (who traditionally also is made Vice-Chancellor) by the name of Guido Westerwelle. That way, Germany would return to the pro-European, pro-integration policies that once was a trademark of its foreign policy.”
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