ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Merkel withstands attacks

08-17-2009 | AFP

Panama Star BERLIN. With only six weeks until elections and trailing in the polls, Germany's Social Democrats launched a series of personal attacks on Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday in a bid to win back ground.

Turning up the heat in what so far has been a lacklustre campaign, Merkel's challenger for Germany's top job questioned her honesty while the Social Democratic party chief accused her of putting her career ahead of her country.

"She has again promised tax cuts that will not come," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hopes to unseat Merkel in the September 27 poll. Social Democratic Party (SPD) chief Franz Muentefering meanwhile accused her of being indifferent to the plight of millions of jobless people in Germany.

Steinmeier's campaign seemed cursed from the outset.

A survey by the Emnid polling institute, for Bild am Sonntag newspaper, showed only nine percent of people believed Steinmeier would be chancellor after the election. In contrast, a stunning 83 percent expected Angela Merkel to secure a second term.