An ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel deliberately let himself be voted out of office Thursday in the German state of Schleswig Holstein in order to hold a snap election, according to dpa. A vote of no-confidence in the state legislature in Kiel went against centre-right Premier Peter Harry Carstensen by 37-1, as he had hoped. He is expected to remain in office as caretaker. Opposition deputies attacked Carstensen, 62, over his plan to move up the state election date to September 27, the same day as Germany's general election, rather than waiting out his term till next May. Merkel's and Carstensen's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is ahead in the polls and is expected to win both nationally and in the largely rural state, which borders on Denmark. The move has created a rift between the CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) which have been coalition allies both federally and in Schleswig Holstein since 2005. Carstensen asked the SPD for a divorce, but on Monday, the SPD rejected a motion to dissolve the state assembly. Carstensen then sacked the four SPD ministers in his state government in order to terminate the coalition. Since he had no direct power to call an election, he invited the vote of no confidence in the assembly, certain that the SPD would join the opposition to vote against him and thus bring about an election. The CDU abstained. In a debate before the vote, the SPD leader in the state, Ralf Stegner, denied the SPD had caused friction in the coalition. He accused Carstensen of engineering a split so he could amass power. The inability of the SPD to fight back has increased the embarrassment of the centre-left party as election day nears, and added to an impression that it is heading into a period in opposition. Merkel hopes the Social Democrats will suffer a defeat nationally, allowing her to form a new federal alliance with a smaller party, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), while CDU premiers rule a majority of the states.
