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FM AMCONSUL FRANKFURT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3462
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 FRANKFURT 004380 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/AGS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL GM
SUBJECT: Left Party Stumbles in Hesse 
 
REF: a) 07 Berlin 1604, b) 07 Berlin 1457 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; not for internet distribution. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  With the Left Party's national leadership focused 
on broadening its voter base, particularly in the west, it scrambled 
to undo damage caused by the Hesse Left's election of communist Pit 
Metz as its candidate in the January 27 state elections and his 
subsequent resignation.  The Left's entry into the Hesse parliament 
would alter the political landscape there by making it more 
difficult to form a two-party majority.  The embarrassing turn of 
events for the Left in Hesse, however, highlights the party's 
divisions and, perhaps, its limitations.  The intervention of 
national party leaders Oskar Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi suggests 
that the national party leadership sees this election as too 
important to squander on an unelectable candidate. END SUMMARY. 
 
The Saga of Pit Metz 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) At its first party state convention August 24-26, the Left 
Party in Hesse elected former German Communist Party member and 
hardliner Peter (Pit) Metz as top candidate.  The choice was a 
disaster.  Metz quickly took the controversial position of ruling 
out any coalition with other parties, saying that the party would be 
a force of fundamental opposition.  Ulrich Wilken, Chairman of the 
Hesse Left Party, told poloff and polspecialist that the Left's main 
constituencies in Hesse are the disaffected -- men in their forties, 
the unemployed and ''socially-conscious'' intelligentsia.  The 
choice of Metz, however, threatened to alienate more moderate 
voters, such as union members. In fact, a September 6 Infratest poll 
revealed that Left Party support had fallen from 5% to 4%. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Sensing the damage that could unfold with Metz as 
candidate, national Left Party leaders apparently intervened: on 
September 4, Metz traveled to Berlin to meet with Left Party leaders 
Oskar Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi. and on September 5, Metz stepped 
down.  He explained that he did not realize his election could 
polarize the party. On September 8, the party held an extraordinary 
party convention and elected the moderate, well-known peace and 
union activist Willi van Ooyen.  A national executive board member 
of the Left Party explained to Embassy Berlin Poloff September 20 
that Metz had been ''overwhelmed'' by his new role, his family had 
been negatively affected by his election, and his children harassed 
at school. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Metz saga reveals the division between the two parties 
that recently combined to form the Left Party: the Socialist Unity 
Party (PDS), which generally supported Metz, and Alternative for 
Social Justice Party (WASG), which did not.  The apparent 
intervention on the national level by Lafontaine and Gysi indicates 
that the party leadership was concerned about Metz's affect on the 
party's electoral fortunes.  The national executive board member 
acknowledged the difficulty that Metz presented.  He underlined that 
the Left Party needs time to reconcile the different views of the 
party and develop a coherent party platform.  For now, he said, the 
Left will focus on serving as an opposition voice, although he did 
not rule out serving in a government coalition. 
 
A Threat to All Parties? 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Gernot Grumbach, head of the South Hesse SPD, told poloff 
and polspecialist that the SPD and the other parties had no comment 
throughout the Metz affair and that the Left Party was now the 
laughing stock of the local political scene.  Despite its recent 
travails, however, the Left Party threatens to upset the political 
balance in Hesse if it succeeds in getting the necessary 5% of the 
vote to enter the state parliament. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) While the most likely next government remains a Christian 
Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) coalition -- 
preserving Roland Koch as Minister President -- the Left's entry 
into the parliament could leave this coalition short of a majority 
of seats.  In the September 6 poll, the CDU stood at 42% and the FDP 
at 8%.  The SPD and Green Party are historical allies in Hesse but 
they currently stand at 32% and 10% respectively.  Following the 
line of her party's national leadership, SPD lead candidate Andrea 
Ypsilanti has so far said she would not consider a coalition with 
the Left Party and no influential SPD leader has contradicted her 
assertion.  Other possibilities include a three-party or a SPD-CDU 
grand coalition (something that Koch has said he rules out and that 
Ypsilanti sees as a worst-case scenario). 
 
¶7. (SBU) COMMENT.  The fate of Pit Metz reveals the importance that 
the national Left Party leadership places on this election, seeing 
it as its chance to break through in the West.  The Hesse Left Party 
stands at a crossroads, internally divided on whether or not to 
moderate its views in exchange for a broader basis of support.  If 
 
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it succeeds in overcoming its internal divisions and mounts a 
moderate campaign, it could gain 5% of the vote and enter the 
parliament, a result that would greatly affect the other parties' 
ability to form a government.  If it continues to stumble and be 
plagued by division, the Left Party could be facing a long period of 
frustration in Hesse and elsewhere in the West.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶8.  This cable has been coordinated with Embassy Berlin. 
 
POWELL