West Germany: Neck und Neck

Throughout the Saar, so often a battlefield in German history, another kind of campaign has reverberated in recent weeks. Though its ferocity seemed out of all proportion to the stakes—50 seats in the state legislature—the latest battle of the Saar represented the final, crucial showdown between West Germany’s major political parties before nationwide elections in September.

The race took on added significance from the fact that the state administration, like the federal government in Bonn, is an uneasy coalition between the Christian Democratic Union and the minority Free Democrats. As a result, the two chief rivals, Ludwig Erhard’s C.D.U., running scared after 16 years in power, and Willy Brandt’s Socialist Party (S.P.D.), riding high in the opinion polls, poured their heaviest artillery into the Saar.

Their tactics—and policies—were remarkably similar. The C.D.U. and the S.P.D. each distributed 330,000 copies of an election magazine; each featured local geography and history contests, with an identical jackpot prize of a trip to Majorca. Both parties piously agreed to hold campaign expenditures down to $75,000—and both ended up spending some $500,000. Willy Brandt came down from Berlin to campaign for two days. Chancellor Erhard topped him by spending four days there, shaking hands and sipping Saarland milk for photographers. “I view this election,” he declared between glasses, “as a vote of confidence or no-confidence in me.”

The results turned out to be neither. The Socialists captured 41% of the 600,000 votes cast, a gain of nine points since the last Saar election five years ago, when they polled only 32%. It was less than they hoped for nonetheless. The C.D.U. picked up just enough new strength to remain on top with 43% of the votes cast. And though the Free Democrats won only 8.3%, losing nearly half their 1960 strength, their margin was sufficient to preserve the ruling coalition. Both major parties last week issued the same verdict: “An excellent starting basis for the federal elections.” In fact, as Erhard and Brandt are aware, their parties are still neck and neck as they turn into the stretch —with an estimated 23% of the nation’s voters as yet undecided.