VOTE FIGHT HOTS UP AS SCHULZ RAPS MERKEL
Berlin, June 26: Germany’s election campaign battle heated up on 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 on Sunday at the German leader, saying the famously cautious Ms 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 demobilisation’,” said Mr Schulz, referring to Ms Merkel’s supposed tactic of making politics so dull that opposition voters don’t bother showing up on polling day.
“I call it an attack on democracy,” charged Mr Schulz, whose Social Democratic Party (SPD) are now the junior partner in Merkel’s right-left coalition. But Mr 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. Mr Tauber pledged that the CDU would pursue a “fair campaign”, adding that “that’s what we’re expecting from the SPD, too”.
SPD’s parliamentary group head Thomas Oppermann said Mr Schulz struck the right tone.