GERMANY: ELECTIONS LATEST

German/Nat German voters dealt the scandal-ridden Christian Democrats a rebuke in a northern state on Sunday, leaving the main opposition party's search for a new leader wide open in the process. Volker Ruehe, a former defense minister running for governor, limited the conservatives' losses in Schleswig-Holstein but failed to build momentum for a possible bid to take over the party in April. Early results showed the Social Democrats of two-term governor Heide Simonis at 43 percent, up from 40 percent in 1996, while their coalition partner, the environmentalist Greens, dropped to about 6 percent from 8 percent. Sunday's ballot was the first electoral test since the CDU scandal blew up in December with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl's admission that he accepted illegal cash contributions in 1990's. It led to investigations into whether government decisions were bought. Voters in Schleswig-Holstein gave the CDU a clear thumbs down in the wake of the debacle. Support for the Christian Democrats fell to about 35 percent from 37 percent in the last election four years ago, confirming the state's governing centre-left coalition, according to unofficial results calculated by German television. It was the first electoral success for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats after a string of losses in state votes last year that had raised questions about the federal government's future. SOUNDBITE: (German) \"We were the strongest party by far. Perhaps in the meantime, we've gained a few more points. Whatever the final result, we are very proud to win the first election in Germany in the year 2000 for the SPD, and to achieve the goal of stopping, and even reversing, the trend against the SPD and we will continue to build a government with the Green Party.\" SUPER CAPTION: Heide Simonis, governor of Schleswig-Holstein Volker Ruehe, a former defense minister running for governor, limited the conservatives' losses in Schleswig-Holstein. But he failed to stake a clear claim to lead the Christian Democrats out of their crisis at the federal level when the party chooses a new chairman in April. Ruehe has avoided taint in the scandal despite serving in senior positions in 1989-98 - a time in which Kohl allegedly hid millions in undeclared, and therefore illegal, campaign contributions. Ruehe insisted it was this scandal that had scuppered his shot at governor. SOUNDBITE: (German) \"Well as the counting stands, it's clear that we have not been able to bring about the miracle of changing the constitution of the government. It would have been a miracle, in the light of the strain we've been put under by the CDU financial scandal. If it wasn't for that, opinion polls show that we would have had a clear victory\" SUPER CAPTION: Volker Ruehe, CDU candidate But general secretary of the CDU Angela Merkel said the results in the small, rural state bordering Denmark - which were less punishing than predicted by pollsters - showed the Christian Democrats were bouncing back. Ruehe supported this view. SOUNDBITE: (German) \"Most people who came to our conference were there not because of local politics but because they were concerned about the CDU. They were worried that the whole country would become destabilised if the CDU didn't recover from the crisis. And it was actually their wish to give a sign from Kiel that the CDU, even if its success was only limited, can have success, can stabilise the electorate. I would say that we have more or less achieved this second goal\" SUPER CAPTION: Volker Ruehe, CDU candidate Some 2.1 million voters were eligible in Sunday's vote for state legislators, who elect the state premier, or governor. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/59f32526eb5dcdf1abdd4336b5dad885 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork