GERMANY:Polarising state premier Roland Koch was facing an uncertain future last night after voters in the western state of Hesse rejected his election claim that Germany has "too many young criminal foreigners".
Mr Koch's Christian Democrats (CDU) lost more than 12 per cent support and, according to exit polls yesterday, was heading to the opposition benches in Hesse. "It's a bitter setback and I accept joint responsibility for the result," said Mr Koch.
After two immigrant youths attacked a pensioner in a Munich train station, he broached the issue of juvenile crime by suggesting that Germany had too many "young criminal foreigners".
It caused a nationwide furore as critics accused him of straying into the extreme-right margin. A similar campaign in 1999 swept Mr Koch to power, but lightning failed to strike twice last night.
Voters deserted him en masse in favour of a newly invigorated Social Democrats (SPD) which, according to exit polls, was holding a narrow lead last night with a clearly left-wing candidate, Andrea Ypsilanti.
She closed a 20-point gap on Mr Koch with a social equality programme focusing on education and a promise to introduce a statutory minimum wage.
A crucial vote-winner was SPD leader Kurt Beck's decision to bring his party left of centre with the promise to reverse unpopular reforms from the Schröder era.
"Roland Koch's mask fell," said Mr Beck. "He reached for right-wing populism and voters punished him for that."
The SPD's possible coalition partner in Hesse, Green leader Tarek Al-Wazir, was equally outspoken. "It's clear that the CDU is being punished for the way that they fought this election," he said. "I just hope that the party will finally bury the Koch method."
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the CDU leadership are likely to favour the method of Lower Saxony governor Christian Wulff. He distanced himself from Mr Koch with a conciliatory, moderate election campaign and was returned to office yesterday, drastically improving his chances of succeeding Ms Merkel as CDU leader. "We proved that you can win an election with sober arguments," he said.
Despite the unclear result in Hesse, political analysts saw another clear winner in the Left Party which, according to exit polls, has managed to get a foothold in two western states.
Prof Jürgen Falter, political scientist at the University of Mainz, said: "We've now got a five-party landscape that makes traditional coalitions no longer possible."