Germany's governing Social Democrats (SPD) are bracing themselves for their third electoral setback within a week when voters in the eastern state of Thuringia go to the polls tomorrow. Opinion polls predict that the Christian Democrats (CDU), who currently share power in the state with the SPD, will sweep to victory with an overall majority.
In two state elections last Sunday, the CDU took control of the southern SPD stronghold of Saarland, and the Social Democrats lost their overall majority in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
Many Social Democrats in Thuringia are blaming their party leader, the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, for their sudden unpopularity in a state where, until recently, they were expected to increase their vote substantially.
Divisions within the government over a controversial plan to cut DM30 billion (IR£12 billion) from next year's budget have sent the Chancellor's poll ratings plummeting in recent weeks and raised doubts about whether he can complete a full term in office.
The Chancellor's immediate response to last Sunday's setbacks was to appoint his Transport Minister, Mr Franz Muntefering, to the newly created post of general secretary of the SPD. A solid, unglamorous figure with deep roots in the party, Mr Muntefering is credited with overhauling the SPD's campaign strategy in advance of last year's federal election victory.
As the most powerful man in the party after Mr Schroder, the new general secretary will face the task of improving the government's public image and neutralising internal party squabbles.
Mr Muntefering's appointment was signalled to journalists in advance of last Sunday's electoral debacle, but his replacement as Transport Minister by the Saarland's defeated prime minister, Mr Reinhard Klimmt, took Berlin by complete surprise. A close associate of the former finance minister, Mr Oskar Lafontaine, and an outspoken critic of the government's planned spending cuts, Mr Klimmt had little reason to expect advancement under Mr Schroder.
"It seems that to get a place at the cabinet table, all you have to do is to attack the Chancellor and lose an election," commented one senior Social Democrat yesterday.
The Chancellor's friends claim that the appointment is an inspired move aimed at silencing an eloquent, internal critic and appeasing the party's left wing. But many commentators regard the move as a sign of Mr Schroder's weakness and dismiss the two men's public assurances that they can work well together.
A CDU victory in Thuringia tomorrow will further weaken the government's position in Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, making it more difficult for Mr Schroder to push through his reform package unamended.
