|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
The FDP's Christian Lindner: the coalition killer
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Candidate
|
| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Dec 16, 2017 04:48pm |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | Profile |
| Author | Jefferson Chase |
| News Date | Monday, November 20, 2017 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Christian Lindner's choice of words was telling when he announced in the wee hours of Monday morning that talks to form a Jamaica coalition with Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Green Party were over. They were the same words that are now plastered at the top of the FDP's website. "It's better not to govern than to govern wrongly."
Lindner was referring to the party's comeback from the political wilderness. In 2013, after four years of being a junior party in a Merkel-led coalition, the FDP failed to clear the 5 percent hurdle needed for parliamentary representation. For the first time in 64 years, the party was out of the Bundestag.
That humiliation was blamed on public perceptions that the Free Democrats were political opportunists and lapdogs of Merkel's conservatives — with no political principles of their own. When he took over as party chairman four years ago, Lindner vowed to erase that humiliation.
The decision to pull the plug on the coalition is in a sense the culmination of a process that began on September 22, 2013. It's also very much a decision that reflects the FDP chairman's personal political outlook. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
