Merkel has lost control of coalition gov't
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The most difficult presidential election since 1945 has convinced a majority of Germans that Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition would not "last much longer," a newly released poll showed Friday.
The coalition government, which consists of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), her Bavarian ally CSU, and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), nominated Christian Wulff for the presidential election in early June after Horst Kohler's surprise resignation on May 31.
In theory, the coalition controlled enough votes in the Federal Assembly's secret ballot to help Wulff easily win an absolute majority.
However, some lawmakers in the three-party coalition rebelled and voted for opposition candidate Joachim Gauck in Wednesday's election.
As a result, Wulff fell short of the needed votes in the first two ballots and only reached a majority in the third and the final round after many delegates from the Left party abstained.
The poll, conducted by opinion research company Infratest dimap for German television ARD, showed that 77 percent of the 799 interviewees believed that the election has sent a signal that "Merkel no longer has control over her government coalition."
Some 68 percent said it was a "disgrace" that Wulff, a deputy leader of the CDU, failed to get enough votes from the coalition in the first two rounds.
About 62 percent agreed that "the coalition of CDU and FDP won't last much longer," while 31 percent expected Merkel's coalition would find ways to cooperate in the future.
The mass-circulation daily Bild and the weekly Die Zeit called the election a "massive slap" and a "humiliation" for Merkel's leadership because it reflected deep differences within the coalition.
Other mainstream media, such as Business daily Handelsblatt and Der Spiegel magazine, termed the difficult victory on Thursday Merkel's "first vote of no confidence" and "biggest failure" since she took office for a second term in October 2009.
