Akhir 22, 1432 H/March 27, 2011, SPA -- Japan's nuclear disaster helped lift Germany's anti-nuclear Greens off the opposition benches and into the seat of power of the country's richest state on Sunday with an unprecedented surge of popularity, according to Reuters. In a stunning victory, the Greens ousted Chancellor Angela Merkel's party in the industrial state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which the conservatives have ruled for 58 consecutive years. The Greens also beat their traditional allies, the Social Democrats. "This is a historic turning point in Greens history," said party co-leader Claudia Roth at celebrations in Berlin after an ear-splitting cheer went out at 6 p.m. as exit polls showed the Greens had enough support to win the state premier's office. Founded 31 years ago as a colourful band of peaceniks and anti-nuclear activists, the Greens made their mark mostly as an entertaining opposition party. Their trademarks included muesli, woolly sweaters, long hair, thick beards and gender equality. They were long wracked by rows between a fundamentalist wing -- "fundis" who wanted to stay in opposition, and more pragmatic "realos" who sought to influence policies and get into power. The "realos" ultimately won the upper hand after about 20 years and the Greens took power as junior partners to the centre-left Social Democrats at the national level in 1998. Joschka Fischer, a prominent "realo" who had begun his political life as a leftist street radical in the late 1960s, served as foreign minister in that government. Over the next seven years, the SPD-Greens government gave Germany vibrant renewable energy laws that have helped the country become a world leader in wind and solar power -- which is now responsible for 17 percent of its electricity. They also wrote a law to scrap nuclear power by 2022. UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS But the Greens remained a niche party hovering for the most part just above the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats in parliament and state assemblies. It seemed inconceivable that the Greens would ever beat their allies, the SPD. But the unthinkable happened in Baden-Wuerttemberg on Sunday. The Greens won 24.2 percent while the SPD finished at 23.2 percent, meaning Greens state leader Winfried Kretschmann will lead a Greens-SPD state government. The Greens, who have a chance to lead a similar Greens-SPD coalition in a Berlin state vote in September, have benefited from being in opposition at the federal level since 2005, as Germans like to complain about those who rule them. The Greens have managed to acquire a reputation for fiscal responsibility and broadened their appeal via a coalition in Hamburg state with Merkel's Christian Democrats in 2008-10, which opened the door to many frustrated CDU backers. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Greens were the only party that consistently opposed the construction of a massive 4.1 billion euro railway project that was hugely unpopular. And the Greens have been clearly and consistently opposed to nuclear power since their founding on Jan. 13, 1980 -- in the Baden-Wuerttemberg town of Karlsruhe. The Greens had risen steadily in opinion polls nationwide over the last 18 months to record highs around 25 percent but had been sliding back to 18 percent -- before the nuclear crisis in Japan triggered widespread fears in Germany. Gero Neugebauer, political scientist at Berlin's Free University, said the Greens victory in Baden-Wuerttemberg will have lasting ramifications for German politics. "It was the nuclear issue that mobilised so many voters for the Greens," he said. "The voters said quite clearly they don't want nuclear power anymore. The Greens were the most credible on nuclear. Their win will shake up the political landscape."
