Final opinion polls predicted that opposition leader Angela Merkel will form Germany's next government after today's election, while leaving it unclear who she'll form it with.
All six opinion polls in the past week show Merkel's Christian Democratic Union ousting Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. They disagree on whether Merkel will be able to form a government with her chosen ally, the Free Democratic Party, or will be forced into a ``grand coalition'' with Schroeder's Social Democrats.
``The only open question is who Merkel will be able to govern with,'' Manfred Guellner, the head of Berlin-based polling company Forsa, said in an interview.
Three of the polls showed the Christian Democrats and the FDP winning a majority in the lower house of parliament over the Social Democrats, their current coalition partners the Greens, and the new Left Party. The other three indicated they may fall short.
Merkel, 51, would become Germany's first woman chancellor. Her calls for cutting taxes, reducing labor costs and making it easier for companies to hire and fire won her strong support from business groups such as the BDI industry federation, which represents 107,000 of the country's biggest businesses.
Those goals would be imperiled if the Christian Democrats are forced to turn to the Social Democrats as partners, said Juergen Thumann, the BDI's president. |
