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Iraq, economy 'swung German polls'
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- The controversial debate over action against Iraq and the state of the economy were the main issues in Germany's elections, CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley has said. Speaking after polls closed, Oakley said: "Edmund Stoiber had tried to focus his election campaign on the economy, which has been difficult with so much attention focussed on Iraq. "When this campaign began, there was a six or seven point lead for the conservative opposition against Schroeder, but somehow Stoiber's party managed to fritter all that away. "Schroeder gained from his effective handling of the floods which afflicted Germany in August. "And secondly, there was a tremendous play on the issue of Iraq during the campaign, and where Gerhard Schroeder engaged the German public -- 80 percent of whom were telling opinion polls they wanted Germany to have no part in an attack on Iraq -- Stoiber's message was more confused.
"He attacked the chancellor for isolating Germany and poisoning relations with the United States, but at the same time his own formula for dealing with the issue was rather unclear "At one stage he appeared to be saying he would back an attack on Iraq, but then he said if there was any attempt by the U.S. to go it alone, he would ban America from using bases in Germany. "The fact he was a Bavarian with a great job to look back on in the Bavarian economy was a strong factor, and he wanted to say he could do the same for Germany and wanted to point out where Schroeder had failed. "But he let the focus on the economy drift away onto Iraq. "As the governor of Bavaria, his policy had really been quite interventionist and not really a free market one. "There are some doubts how Stoiber's efforts in Bavaria could be practised on a country-wide scale. Some economists have doubted it can be done.
"In the later stages of the campaign, we did see a fairly desperate offer by Stoiber to reduce unemployment in Germany by one million -- twice what Schroeder had promised to do last time round. "Bit it was difficult to see how Stoiber could achieve double Schroeder's figure when the chancellor himself had failed. "Stoiber later focussed on issues like immigration, saying he would tighten immigration policies. So Stoiber's message was a bit muddled -- it wasn't clear whether he was going to be a tough right-wing conservative, or whether he really wanted to play for the centre ground. "Certainly on economic reform he did not appear to be offering anything more dramatic than what Schroeder had offered through his period of socialist democrat government with the Greens." The prospect of a U.S.-led war coloured much of the election debate, with Stoiber accusing Schroeder of damaging U.S.-German relations by flatly opposing German involvement in any conflict. (Full story) But Schroeder's stance was popular with voters -- turning from the prospect of certain defeat to a cliffhanger election. (Full story) Stoiber failed to turn the focus back to domestic issues like immigration and the economy, generally seen as his strength given his success in managing his wealthy home state. (Full story)
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