Dr Helmut Kohl's hopes of winning a record fifth term as Chancellor received a severe blow last night when his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) saw its vote collapse in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The far-right German People's Union (DVU) surprised most observers by winning 12 per cent of the votes in the state election, guaranteeing the party seats in the state parliament.
The Social Democrats (SPD), who have governed the state in a coalition with the Greens since 1994, increased their share of the vote to 37 per cent, becoming the largest party. But the Greens looked certain last night to lose all their seats in the state parliament, leaving the SPD in search of a new coalition partner.
The formerly communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which supported the SPD-Green coalition for the past four years, held its share of the vote at 19 per cent.
But the PDS remains a pariah in German politics and the SPD is unlikely to consider establishing a formal relationship with the former communists only five months before the federal election.
The disastrous result for the CDU, which saw its vote fall by 12 per cent to 22 per cent, will revive a debate within the party about whether Dr Kohl should step down before September's election.
The CDU general secretary, Mr Peter Hintze, blamed squabbling between the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian partners in the Christian Social Union (CSU) for the biggest ever drop in the party's vote in a state election.
"It is a serious blow for the CDU and we would prefer to discuss the causes among ourselves. But it is impossible to overlook the fact that internal disputes have unsettled the electorate," he said.
The SPD general secretary, Mr Fritz Muntefering, welcomed the result as further support for the party's choice of Mr Gerhard Schroeder as candidate for chancellor. He claimed that it was now clear that Dr Kohl's centre-right government had lost the confidence of the German people.
"What this result makes clear is that Helmut Kohl cannot now win the federal election on 27th September," he said.
Dr Kohl's narrow victory in the 1994 federal election owed much to strong support in the east of the country, where many voters remained grateful to him for his role in reunifying Germany.
Prof Joachim Raschke, one of Germany's leading political scientists, believes that yesterday's result confirms that the Chancellor has now lost this support.
"The trend in the west is against Kohl. In the east, they have already voted him out of office," he said.
