Political Parties React To Hesse Election
Roland Koch (C) of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), acting Governor of the German state of Hesse receives a bouquet as German Chancellor and Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel (L) and CDU General Secretary Ronald Pofalla (R) smile prior to the weekly CDU board meeting at the Konrad-Adenauer-House on January 19, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. In the election in the western state of Hesse, the CDU scored 37.4 percent, up 0.6 percentage points from the last vote in 2008. The German Social Democrats (SPD) suffered dramatic losses, slumping more than 13 percent to a historic low of just over 23 percent. Among the smaller parties, the German Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) took 16 percent of the vote, their best result in Hesse in more than 50 years. The CDU says it now hopes to form a coalition government with the FDP. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Roland Koch;Angela Merkel;Ronald Pofalla
( - Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Europe)
