Merkel Sees Biggest Victory Since Kohl’s Reunification Vote

Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc took 41.8 percent in today’s election to 25.5 percent for the Social Democrats of Peer Steinbrueck, projections on ZDF television as of 8:57 p.m. showed.

Most of the Leftist parties were under 10%.

The Greens, with which the SPD governed from 1998 to 2005, took 8.4 percent, and the anti-capitalist Left Party got 8.5 percent, according to the projections. The anti-euro Alternative for Germany had 4.8 percent.

The largest rival to Merkel's Christian Democrats is the Social Democrats (SPD) which got 25.5% of the vote. The Free Democrats received 4.7% of the vote, below the 5% needed to win seats in the parliament.

Taking a page from Michelle Obama's book, the Greens decided that it would be a good idea to propose that public cafeterias go meat-free on a designated "Veggie Day" each week in order to help the environment and reduce cruelty to animals.

Earlier this year, the Greens were polling consistently in the double digits, often around 15% to 16%. However, since the "Veggie Day" story broke in August, the party's following has dropped to as low as 9% in some polls.

It appears that the Veggie platform was so badly received that the Greens did worse than their worst expectations.