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| As German Vote Nears, No Guarantees for Merkel’s Coalition | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| BERLIN — Germany’s race for Parliament tightened Thursday, three days before elections, with fresh polls underlining the difficulty that even the popular chancellor, Angela Merkel, faces in building a winning coalition. | BERLIN — Germany’s race for Parliament tightened Thursday, three days before elections, with fresh polls underlining the difficulty that even the popular chancellor, Angela Merkel, faces in building a winning coalition. |
| Ms. Merkel’s Social Democratic challenger, Peer Steinbrück, a classic center-leftist who has deep experience in Germany’s state and federal governments, urged his party to make the most of what it says is collapsing support for the chancellor and her Christian Democrats. | Ms. Merkel’s Social Democratic challenger, Peer Steinbrück, a classic center-leftist who has deep experience in Germany’s state and federal governments, urged his party to make the most of what it says is collapsing support for the chancellor and her Christian Democrats. |
| “In three days, you can be rid of them!” Mr. Steinbrück told a crowd gathered in Alexanderplatz, in the heart of former East Berlin, accusing the Merkel-led coalition of being “the most quarrelsome, useless and backward-looking” government in modern German history. | “In three days, you can be rid of them!” Mr. Steinbrück told a crowd gathered in Alexanderplatz, in the heart of former East Berlin, accusing the Merkel-led coalition of being “the most quarrelsome, useless and backward-looking” government in modern German history. |
| The chancellor herself, Mr. Steinbrück charged, has given no direction in the past four years. Instead, “she prefers to drive around in circles,” like a caged tiger at the Berlin Zoo, he added. | The chancellor herself, Mr. Steinbrück charged, has given no direction in the past four years. Instead, “she prefers to drive around in circles,” like a caged tiger at the Berlin Zoo, he added. |
| Two polls published Thursday showed that Ms. Merkel’s coalition had a narrow lead ahead of Sunday’s vote. | |
| According to a telephone survey for the ZDF public television network, the chancellor’s center-right party is backed by 40 percent of voters, while its partners, the business-minded Free Democrats, are supported by 6 percent. The center-left Social Democrats earned the backing of 27 percent of voters, while their preferred partners, the Greens, earned 9 percent. The poll surveyed 1,369 voters on Tuesday and Wednesday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. | |
| Another survey conducted by Insa for the newspaper Bild-Zeitung showed that Ms. Merkel’s party had the support of 38 percent of voters, and the Free Democrats had the backing of 6 percent. Support for the Social Democrats and Greens was consistent with the ZDF poll, at 28 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Alternative for Germany, which rejects the euro, garnered 5 percent, compared with 4 percent in the ZDF survey; passing the 5 percent threshold would make it a surprise entry into Parliament. The poll surveyed 2,248 voters by telephone from Sunday to Wednesday and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. | |
| Both major parties, insisting that Germany’s future is firmly in Europe, have ruled out a coalition with the Alternative for Germany. If the anti-euro party does get into Parliament, it could reduce the number of seats her coalition receives, forcing her to forge a so-called grand coalition with the Social Democrats. | |
| That would match the coalition that governed in her first term, when Mr. Steinbrück was finance minister and the pair together guided Germany through the 2008 financial crisis. And it would potentially make Mr. Steinbrück a key player in the next phase of Germany’s leadership, whether his party wins or not. | That would match the coalition that governed in her first term, when Mr. Steinbrück was finance minister and the pair together guided Germany through the 2008 financial crisis. And it would potentially make Mr. Steinbrück a key player in the next phase of Germany’s leadership, whether his party wins or not. |
| Mr. Steinbrück, 66, has said that he will not be part of another grand coalition. But it is increasingly clear that he would like to be part of negotiating whatever program the two big parties can thrash out. | |
| The uncertainty of the outcome means that the European Union, which has been holding its breath as the German vote nears, is likely to wait a few more months before learning where Berlin would like to guide the troubled Continent. | The uncertainty of the outcome means that the European Union, which has been holding its breath as the German vote nears, is likely to wait a few more months before learning where Berlin would like to guide the troubled Continent. |
| Mr. Steinbrück, a bright but sometimes blustering politician, was regarded as a strong alternative to Ms. Merkel, 59, when he declared his candidacy a year ago. Almost immediately, however, he started to stumble, first over disclosures that he had received $1.7 million for speeches and writings, then over whether politicians were paid enough, and next over a suggestion that he would never buy cheap wine. | |
| His party, which is still divided over a legacy of labor and welfare reforms that it initiated when last in power under Ms. Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, was slow to get its campaign rolling. Even as late as July, Mr. Steinbrück seemed a somewhat reluctant slogger on the trail. | His party, which is still divided over a legacy of labor and welfare reforms that it initiated when last in power under Ms. Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, was slow to get its campaign rolling. Even as late as July, Mr. Steinbrück seemed a somewhat reluctant slogger on the trail. |
| Since his lone television debate with Ms. Merkel on Sept. 1, from which he emerged looking like he could be chancellor, Mr. Steinbrück has taken to campaigning with zest. In a format that is unusual for German election campaigns, which tend to be scripted and repetitive, he has hit the road with a strategy called “plain talk,” in which citizens sit around him as he fields their written questions — filtered through a moderator but not obviously prepared. | Since his lone television debate with Ms. Merkel on Sept. 1, from which he emerged looking like he could be chancellor, Mr. Steinbrück has taken to campaigning with zest. In a format that is unusual for German election campaigns, which tend to be scripted and repetitive, he has hit the road with a strategy called “plain talk,” in which citizens sit around him as he fields their written questions — filtered through a moderator but not obviously prepared. |
| Mr. Steinbrück, who once governed Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, has one of the readier wits on the campaign trail. “I’ll start off answering your questions, and then I think it’s a 120-minute election speech, and I will read it to make it even more boring,” he said as he took the stage one evening in Munich last week, with barely 1,500 supporters shivering through his presentation. | |
| He has regularly accused the news media of writing his political obituary in advance, reminding a television interviewer on Aug. 30 that in soccer, a national passion here, “it’s not a matter of the first 20 minutes, but of the last 10” as to who wins. “I am amazed at how many people in your profession have already written their ready commentaries,” he added. | He has regularly accused the news media of writing his political obituary in advance, reminding a television interviewer on Aug. 30 that in soccer, a national passion here, “it’s not a matter of the first 20 minutes, but of the last 10” as to who wins. “I am amazed at how many people in your profession have already written their ready commentaries,” he added. |
| Mr. Steinbrück became a national topic of conversation last weekend when the magazine of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper showed him giving his middle finger in reaction to an interviewer who had asked him to respond to unkind nicknames attached to him during the campaign. The photo was from late July, when Mr. Steinbrück was far behind the chancellor in personal popularity polls. He still trails, but by less. | |
| Many Germans say that even if they do not share Ms. Merkel’s center-right politics, they believe that she has done a good job of guiding the nation to relative prosperity in Europe, handling the euro crisis and reducing unemployment. | |
| Her party, which in the last two elections saw its support drop just ahead of the actual vote, has made Ms. Merkel the center of its campaign. | |
| Since her Free Democratic partners made a poor showing in Bavarian state elections last Sunday, she has appealed directly to voters, appearing on national television late Wednesday to urge people to cast both their votes — for district candidates and party lists — for her and the Christian Democrats. That, she is telling Germans, is the only way to guarantee she stays in charge. | |
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: September 19, 2013 | Correction: September 19, 2013 |
An earlier version of this article misquoted remarks by Peer Steinbrück to an audience in Munich last week. He said, jokingly, that he would give a “120-minute election speech,” not a “20-minute election speech.” | An earlier version of this article misquoted remarks by Peer Steinbrück to an audience in Munich last week. He said, jokingly, that he would give a “120-minute election speech,” not a “20-minute election speech.” |