Merkel’s rival accuses her of ‘attacking democracy’

Martin Schulz, chairman of Germany's social democratic SPD party and candidate for chancellor. (AFP)

BERLIN: Germany’s election campaign battle heated up Monday, with accusations of mud-slinging flying after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s rival accused her of an “attack on democracy.”
Social Democrats Chief Martin Schulz lashed out Sunday at the German leader, saying the famously cautious Merkel caused voters to disengage by refusing to air her views or engage in forceful debate.
“That’s what’s called, in Berlin circles, ‘asymmetric demobilization’,” said Schulz, referring to Merkel’s supposed tactic of making politics so dull that opposition voters do not bother showing up on polling day.
“I call it an attack on democracy,” charged Schulz, whose Social Democratic Party (SPD) are now the junior partner in Merkel’s right-left coalition.
But Schulz, who also accused Merkel of “arrogance,” was swiftly met with a torrent of protest and accused of having crossed a line.
“Even if Mr. Schulz is frustrated by the polls, he should remain measured,” tweeted Peter Tauber, the general secretary of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
“The desperation must never be so deep that democrats accuse democrats of attacks against democracy,” he said.
Tauber pledged that the CDU would pursue a “fair campaign,” adding that “that’s what we’re expecting from the SPD, too.”
But, defending his SPD party boss, its parliamentary group head Thomas Oppermann said Schulz has struck the right tone.
“An election campaign is not a pillow fight, one needs to be concrete. I find that he succeeded in this case,” Oppermann told public broadcaster ARD.
Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert declined to comment on issues of party politics but stressed that it was “clear” for the coalition that “we are all working for democracy.”
Schulz revitalized SPD support and enjoyed soaring popularity ratings when he took his party’s reins in January, but the trend has since reversed.
Three months before Germany heads to the polls on Sept. 24, the SPD is trailing Merkel’s center-right CDU by 15 percentage points, according to a survey published Sunday by Bild am Sonntag.
After four years in a coalition led by Merkel, the SPD has seen falling support as its left-leaning supporters accuse it of shifting too far right to accomodate the German leader’s economically liberal policies.