Merkel's suffers historic defeat in German state due to party's stance on nuclear power

[jpak]

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/9000/37756504/Merkels_suffers_historic_defeat_in_German_state

BERLIN — German chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have suffered a historic defeat in a state ballot after almost six decades in power there, preliminary results showed Sunday, in an election that amounted to a referendum on the party's stance on nuclear power.

The opposition anti-nuclear Greens doubled their voter share in Baden-Wuerttemberg state and seemed poised to win their first-ever state governorship, according to preliminary results released by the state electoral commission.

"We have secured what amounts to a historic electoral victory," the Greens' leader Winfried Kretschmann told party members in Stuttgart.

The Greens secured 24.2 percent of the vote, with the center-left Social Democrats down 2 percentage points at 23.1 percent. That secures them a narrow lead to form a coalition government with a combined 71 seats in the state legislature, the results showed.

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[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[hlthe2b]

2. Will those still pushing nuclear in US, take note?

or stubbornly push forward without even a touch on the "pause" button?

[orion007]

3. She fooled none with her latest move, it backfired.

"Merkel astonished German politicians on Monday by suspending an unpopular coalition decision taken only last autumn, under which the life of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants would be extended by years.

She drew accusations on Tuesday of transparent trickery for the move, with the opposition and media saying she was trying to avoid a regional election disaster later this month."

Well, not really because I was fooled into thinking that she called for the closure of these old plants because it was the intelligent move to make to protect the people.
Not having realized that her party had voted for an extension of their licensing already.
She has a doctorate I think in physics which I also assumed was part of her reasoning for closing the older plants.
This is great news for Germany.

[Kolesar]

5. Thanks for keeping us apprised...eom

[DeSwiss]

4. K&R

[Dawson Leery]

6. Seeing that the right has controlled the government

of this region for 50 years, a "narrow" win for the center left coalition is a big deal by any measure.

[kristopher]

7. +1 Is a big deal bigger than a huge deal? If not, I'd have to go with huge... nt