BERLIN, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Senior Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and German Social Democrat (SPD) politicians have openly mulled the possibility of ending their federal "grand coalition" prematurely on Thursday, should they perform poorly in looming regional elections.
Speaking at a campaign event in Frankfurt, CDU secretary general Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer predicted that a potential cancellation of the legislative alliance after a closely-watched ballot in the state of Hesse on Sunday would be followed by swift re-elections on a federal level. "If this government collapses now, there will be a snap election," Kramp-Karrenbauer said.
The CDU and SPD are both widely forecast to suffer heavy losses in Hesse as voters punish the two ruling parties for recent infighting in Chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) fourth governing cabinet. Kramp-Karrenbauer, who has repeatedly been cited as a potential successor to Merkel, noted that the CDU, SPD and Christian Social Union (CSU) who form the "grand coalition" together were all currently on edge. "As a consequence, I think nobody can say to 100 percent how stable the situation will remain, especially with regards to what dynamics could develop in individual parties."
Echoing such concerns, the SPD parliamentary delegate Hilde Mattheis criticized the party leadership on Thursday for having failed to develop an exit scenario from the Berlin alliance. "We should ask the party basis again if we want to continue with the grand coalition. Not in a year, but now," Mattheis told the magazine Focus.
By contrast, the senior CSU politician and former transport minister Alexander Dobrindt warned the SPD against quitting the coalition in response to a weak electoral performance in Hesse. "Fleeing from responsibility has never served to help against a lack of voter support," Dobrindt argued.
Last week, the CSU and SPD both slumped to their worst ever electoral results in Bavarian state elections. Polls suggest that the CDU could join the undesirable ranks of mainstream parties witnessing a collapse in regional voter support shortly as well.
At the moment, the SPD and Greens are seen as running neck-and-neck for first place in the Hesse assembly on Sunday with the latter left-environmental party once again being the principal beneficiary of citizens' fatigue with the "grand coalition".
CDU secretary general Kramp-Karrenbauer argued on Thursday that the Greens could be interested in provoking a collapse of the "grand coalition" in order to be able to capitalize on their current popularity in an early federal election. The party would emerge in a strengthened position to try to form a "Jamaica coalition" with the CDU and Free Democratic Party (FDP) again, which ultimately proved unfeasible in November 2017 when the FDP walked out of negotiations.
Nevertheless, Kramp-Karrenbauer recommended for the three "grand coalition" parties to take the Hesse vote as an opportunity to choose and focus on implementing three shared policy projects as a matter of priority. "I think this would be an important signal to the citizens," she said.
