Results of the Germany MMP election on 27 Sep 1998. Not sure how many wasted votes. AP is notorious in NOT making a simple list of votes versus seats for the various parties. Note the percentage turnout at the bottom. ------- Germans Oust Kohl, Elect Schroeder By TONY CZUCZKA .c The Associated Press BONN, Germany (AP) -- Gerhard Schroeder and his Social Democrats won national elections Sunday, ushering in the first change of government Germany has seen after 16 years of conservative rule under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the West's longest-serving leader. The new, 54-year-old chancellor will be the first of his generation, rooted in the leftist movements of the 1960s, to lead Europe's biggest nation. Throwing up his arms in a victory salute, Schroeder promised cheering supporters he would keep pledges to fight unemployment -- this year's major campaign issue -- as well as achieve long-awaited tax and economic reforms. ``The Kohl era has come to an end,'' Schroeder proclaimed to the cheering party faithful. ``Our task will be to thoroughly modernize our country and to unblock the backlog of reform.'' The defeated Kohl will be remembered best as the chancellor who unified communist East Germany with the West in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Schroeder, too, will have his shot at history as he oversees two monumental changes next year: the government's return to Berlin, its prewar capital, and the switch from the trusted German mark to the European common currency, the euro. Kohl, 68, looked tired and sad as he conceded defeat. ``This is a hard evening for me, and for us all,'' Kohl told his supporters. ``... I wish Herr Schroeder the best of luck and a successful time in office.'' He also announced he would not run for re-election as chief of his party, likely making way for his protege, Wolfgang Schaeuble, to succeed him. Schroeder supporters streamed into the streets of Bonn, holding balloons and chanting ``Kohl must go!'' Many voters have known no other chancellor but Kohl, and the promise of change brought tears of joy at party headquarters. ``Finally, finally. I have rarely been so happy,'' said Uta Tiedtke, 51, dabbing her eyes as she stood among the revelers. ``My two children have never known anything other than Kohl. This means the end of stagnation. We've been waiting for this so long.'' Schroeder, the popular governor of Lower Saxony state, has tried to move his traditionally leftist party toward the political middle to appeal to the widest possible audience. His party's victory adds momentum to the wave of center-left governments across Europe, after Britain's Tony Blair and France's Lionel Jospin. Schroeder told the ARD television network that he would begin talks Monday on building a coalition. His party won 41 percent of the vote, according to early official results, giving it the right to form a government with Schroeder at its head. The Christian Democrats won 35 percent. Kohl's government will continue in a caretaker role until a new coalition is formed. There is no deadline under the German constitution. The new chancellor has said he hopes to govern with the environmentalist Greens party, which won 6.7 percent. It was unclear, though, whether the two were strong enough to form a stable majority in parliament. Schroeder would not say if coalition talks would start with the Greens, who would have their first shot at a role in government. Together, the two parties would have 334 seats in the 656-seat parliament, a shaky six-vote majority that might not survive differences between the sometimes radical Greens and the more pragmatic Social Democrats. Schroeder reiterated he would not consider including in his government the ex- communist Party of Democratic Socialism, which won enough votes to stay in parliament. Many in the west view the party as a troubling remnant of the former communist East German state. The other option for Schroeder is to share power with the Christian Democrats in a so-called ``grand coalition'' -- something Germany hasn't seen in almost 30 years. Kohl, however, saw no role for his party in the new government. ``There is nothing more to say about this defeat. The voters have fully and clearly decided for a Red-Green coalition,'' Kohl said, using the German shorthand for the Social Democrats and the Greens. ``This will carry us through the transition time into the new century,'' Kohl said. Besides tackling grand projects as Germany enters the 21st century, Schroeder has serious domestic problems to address during his four-year term. Unemployment, running above 10 percent, was the main campaign issue this year, and Schroeder has pledged to combat it primarily by opening dialogue between unions, industry and government officials. He also has vowed to see through tax reforms that would relieve average wage earners, as well promising to restore modest social welfare programs cut by the Kohl government in an effort to trim the budget. ``We stand for inner security ... but also for continuity in foreign policy,'' Schroeder said in his victory speech. ``My most important job is the fight against the scourge of unemployment.'' Kohl had sought an unprecedented fifth term on the strength of his image of stability and clout with world powers at a time of economic turmoil in Russia and ongoing conflict in the Balkans. One of the first tests of the new government will be foreign policy, as NATO prepares for possible air strikes to quell fighting in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. The issue impacts Germany, which would participate in any military action and where ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo are already seeking asylum. The liberal Free Democrats also won seats in the 656-seat parliament with 6.2 percent of the vote. Turnout was 81.5 percent of the 60.5 million voters, up from 79 percent in 1994. AP-NY-09-27-98 1821EDT
