Merkel's Conservatives Seek New vote in state of Hesse

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Wiesbaden, Germany - Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing conservatives in the German state of Hesse called Thursday for fresh elections, three days after the failure of a bid to topple them.

The state's Christian Democrat (CDU) leadership said it would present a resolution at the next sitting of the regional legislature, calling for the dissolution of the assembly and new elections on January 18.

A bid to oust the CDU from power by the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) was thwarted on Monday when four SPD dissidents refused to back their leader, Andrea Ypsilanti.

The revolt forced Ypsilanti to cancel plans for a vote in parliament on a coalition she forged with the Greens, backed by the radical Left party, to topple the CDU caretaker government led by state Premier Roland Koch since inconclusive elections in February.

Koch said Thursday that there was no chance of forming another coalition given the current differences between the five parties represented in the 110-member legislature in Wiesbaden.

Ypsilanti's decision to seek support from the Left for a minority government led by her broke an election promise she made before the February polls, leading to widespread criticism of her actions.

Many in the SPD leadership distrust the Left, a collection of former East German communists and disaffected Social Democrats from the West.

Opinion polls suggest the SPD would lose fresh elections in Hesse. At national level, the SPD rules in an uneasy coalition with Merkel's CDU. National polls are scheduled for September 2009.



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