MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017 INTERNATIONAL Merkel’s party seeks win in bellwether state vote D‹SSELDORF: One in five German voters were significant, but this year’s NRW vote carries higher bid to take back the chancellery grow. If she loses, it Security, traffic jams heading to the polls in a key state election yester- stakes, being the last regional vote before national would mean that the Schulz train has slammed against Mindful that local issues can tip the balance, day, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party hoping polls and having a direct impact on whether the a wall,” the weekly Spiegel magazine said. Political ana- Merkel has blamed the incumbents for persistent to deal a crushing blow to her main rival four SPD can close the gap nationwide with the CDU. lyst Oskar Niedermayer also noted the state’s signifi- traffic jams that “are longer than from here to the months before national elections. After casting his vote in his hometown of cance to the SPD, telling AFP that “a defeat there would moon”. The CDU has also accused the state’s SPD- About 13.1 million eligible voters in North Rhine- Wuerselen, Schulz acknowledged Sunday that the be a disastrous symbol” for the party. Green governing coalition of security failures. State Westphalia (NRW) are casting ballots to elect a new race would be close, with 30 percent of voters Schulz, who held more than 30 rallies in the interior minister Ralf Jaeger has faced criticism for regional parliament for the sprawling industrial deciding their pick at the last minute. state, hopes that his push for “social justice” will res- failing to detain Anis Amri, the Tunisian asylum region, which has a large migrant population and “That makes it thrilling to the last second. I hope onate in NRW, which has lagged behind western seeker suspected in the deadly Berlin Christmas has been a Social Democratic Party (SPD) strong- of course that we will be ahead in the evening,” he Germany economically. He argues that many peo- market rampage last year. hold for decades. But surveys ahead of the vote said. Separately, the CDU’s candidate Armin ple are struggling in temporary or low-paid jobs Amri had lived in the state and was deemed a showed the centre-left party running neck-and- Laschet, who cast his vote in Aachen, said: “There is even though the country as a whole is growing rich- threat by intelligence officials, but Jaeger argued neck with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, with a real chance that we can win. Now it’s time for the er. But Merkel has also been pounding the streets in that there was insufficient evidence to lock him up. some even placing the CDU ahead. voters to decide.” Turnout appeared to be brisk at the state of 18 million people, including 4.2 million On Jaeger’s watch, Cologne also became the scene The opinion polls were the latest indication that 33.6 percent as of midday, compared to 29.5 per- of migrant origin. In the town of Haltern am See on of mass sexual assaults by groups of mostly North initial enthusiasm for the new SPD leader, Martin cent at the same time in 2012. Wednesday, she took aim at Schulz’s arguments, African men on New Year’s Eve of 2015-2016, Schulz, could be fizzling out. The SPD had been ail- saying the CDU offers “justice in the sense of jobs, inflaming the debate over the 890,000 asylum seek- ing nationwide but saw a surge in support in Local vote, national stakes strong budgets, funds for local communities”. She ers Germany welcomed in 2015. The populist AfD February when Schulz took over. But that enthusi- The SPD is banking its hopes on incumbent state also urged voters to look at her government’s eco- (Alternative for Germany), which has railed against asm failed to translate into votes in the last two premier Hannelore Kraft, 55, who secured 39.1 percent nomic record, noting that with 7.5 percent unem- the migration influx, hopes to win its first seats in state elections, when the CDU won comfortably. in a 2012 vote, while the CDU clinched just over 26 per- ployment, the state fares worse than the national North Rhine-Westphalia, which would see it repre- An election in Germany’s biggest state is always cent. “If Kraft succeeds, then the chances of the SPD’s rate of 5.8 percent. sented in 13 of 16 state parliaments.— AFP Exit Francois Hollande, President of paralysis A reputation for being wishy-washy PARIS: When Francois Hollande tapped of his crowning achievements was to shepherd the love of his life, Valerie Trierweiler-dragged Emmanuel Macron as an aide in his 2012 presi- France’s gay marriage through parliament in down his approval ratings. Hollande won credit dential campaign, little did he know that he was 2013 despite mass protests. for his leadership throughout a series of jihadist taking advice from his eventual successor. Nor He initiated a 75 percent “millionaire’s tax”, attacks that have killed 239 people since 2015. could the French Socialist leader, who handed which caused an outcry among high-profile fig- In one of the defining moments of his presi- over power to Macron yesterday, have foreseen ures such as actor Gerard Depardieu and was dency, he led world leaders and one million that the liberal reforms championed by his pro- quietly scrapped. Then, with the jobless figures Parisians in a march against terrorism after the tege would turn out to be his undoing. refusing to budge and the economy stuck at January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine At 62, Hollande leaves office as one of near-zero growth, Hollande came under increas- and a Jewish store. After the November 2015 France’s least popular leaders after becoming ing pressure to change course. attacks in the capital that killed 130 people, his the embodiment of his country’s social and eco- He began pushing for a tax cut on businesses government imposed a state of emergency that nomic paralysis. Hollande had an easy touch in exchange for hiring pledges, known as the has been renewed repeatedly, over the objec- with the public but quickly acquired a reputa- Responsibility Pact, triggering dissent on the tions of rights groups. PARIS: Brigitte Macron gestures as she arrives at the Elysee presidential Palace to tion for being wishy-washy, with detractors nick- Socialists’ left flank. Hollande brought in eco- attend her husband Emmanuel Macron’s formal inauguration ceremony as French naming him Flanby after a French brand of wob- nomic liberal Manuel Valls as prime minister in ‘He owes me’ President. —AFP Despite his dismal poll ratings that at one stage plunged to just four percent, Hollande held out the hope that a late improvement in Brigitte Macron: Prez’s unemployment figures would justify a re-elec- tion bid. It was a hope he continued to nurture after Macron walked out on the government and teacher-turned-wife announced his own bid for the presidency. “He PARIS: Once his high school drama teacher, was “totally captivated” by Emmanuel’s knows what he owes me,” he fumed after now wife of incoming French president intelligence. Two years later he made an Macron launched his own En Marche move- Emmanuel Macron, 64-year-old Brigitte audacious prediction. “At the age of 17, ment. Hollande’s dithering on a second term was Macron stepped into the spotlight long Emmanuel said to me ‘whatever you do, I toxic for the Socialist Party. Then a tell-all book before her husband was elected. The 25- will marry you’,” she told Paris Match last came out in October that made many wonder if year age difference and the extraordinary April. Emmanuel was sent off to finish high he was his own worst enemy. way they met-he pursued her when he was school at an elite establishment in Paris, In “A President Shouldn’t Say That”, a book of her pupil-makes her the most talked-about but he kept pursuing her and gradually she interviews by two journalists from Le Monde French president’s partner since Nicolas was won over. newspaper, Hollande heaped scorn on the Sarkozy married singer-model Carla Bruni national football team and even his own govern- nine years ago. ‘When I decide something...’ ment’s policies. He finally bowed out of con- Even Madonna is a fan, writing on Brigitte left her husband Andre Louis tention in early December, becoming the first Instagram after Macron’s election that “no- Auziere, a banker, in 2006 and married president of France’s fifth republic, founded 58 one seems to care about their age differ- Macron a year later. She moved to Paris years ago, to decide not to seek a second term. ence nor insisted that Brigitte ‘act her age’”. where he continued his studies and she Elegant, always tanned and blonde, Brigitte worked as a teacher. “When I make up my Accidental president? is her husband’s closest collaborator and he mind about something, I do it,” she said in a Hollande won the Socialist nomination for the has pledged to give her an official role- documentary. “She didn’t love me for what I presidency after then IMF chief Dominique unlike in the US, there has hitherto been no had, for the standing, the comfort or the Strauss-Kahn — the hot favorite-crashed out of definition of First Lady in the French presi- security that I could give her. She gave up the running after being arrested in New York on dency.