Schroeder said the “bitter defeat” in NRW “throws into question the political basis for the continuation of our work. (Reuters)

Additional Reporting By Ahmed Al-Matboli, IOL Correspondent

FRANKFURT, May 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In an unhappy outcome to German Muslims in the largest regional state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the conservative anti-hijab Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won state elections Sunday, May 22, triggering a decision to hold snap general election across Germany in the autumn.

The CDU dealt Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD) another heavy blow after winning over NRW, which continued a stronghold for Schroeder's party for 39 years, reports IslamOnline.net’s correspondent.

The party won 44.8% of the votes, against SDP's 37.1% and 6.2% for their ruling coalition partner the Greens' Party, almost the same percentage won by the Democrats expected future partners, Free Democratic Party.

Although all opinion polls showed that the SPD would lose the NRW, the scale of the defeat highlighted the extent to which Schroeder had failed to convince large chunks of the population that the far-reaching - and frequently painful - economic and social reforms encapsulated in his “Agenda 2010” were vitally necessary, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Snap Elections

Schroeder called for a general election to be moved forward to late this year, adding that the “bitter defeat” in NRW “throws into question the political basis for the continuation of our work” at a time when Germany was in the process of wide-ranging reforms.

He said he wanted to hold a general election “as quickly as possible, realistically in autumn this year”, one year ahead of the scheduled date of September 2006.

The Bundestag lower house of parliament will have to vote on the proposal.

Announcing his decision, Schroeder insisted that time was needed for the huge raft of social, pension and labor market reforms to begin to bear fruit.

“It will take time for the reforms to have a favorable impact on the life of all people in our country,” he said.

But the majority of the population appears to believe that after two terms in power, countless U-turns and counter U-turns on policy, and no sign that the economy has turned the corner yet, Schroeder has had his chance and it is time for change.

Also opposition conservative CDU/CSU and liberal FDP parties insist that the reforms do not go far enough.

Christian Democrat leader Angela Merkel, who is likely to challenge Schroeder in the general election in a bid to become Germany's first woman leader, hailed Sunday's victory as a “sensational result”.

She confidently welcomed the possibility of an early election, saying: “Every day without the red-green coalition will be a good day for Germany”.

Muslim Concerns

Ruettgers pledged to ban hijab in schools within three weeks of winning elections. (Reuters)

The CDU’s resounding victory sent shock waves among the Muslim minority in NRW, home to one of German’s 3.4 million Muslims, the biggest Muslim gathering in the country, says IOL’s correspondent.

During the election campaign, Christian Democrats leader in NRW Juergen Ruettgers said he would swiftly ban hijab from public schools in Germany’s most populated state, with 13 million.

The legislatures in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Reinland-Pfalz recently turned down proposals by the CDU to ban Muslim school teachers from wearing hijab.

Germany's highest tribunal, the constitutional court, ruled in 2003 that Baden-Wuerttemberg was wrong to forbid a Muslim teacher from wearing hijab in the classroom.

In addition to Baden-Wuerttemberg, the states of Saarland and Niedersachsen ban teachers from showing any religious or political affiliation, including hijab.

The state of Hessen also made amendments to its school laws, banning teachers from wearing any symbols of religious or political nature while allowing them a limited right to put on Christian or western symbols.

In Bavaria, laws were enforced in 2004 banning teachers from wearing religious symbols that are not harmonious with Christian cultural values. The state of Brandenburg made the same amendments in 2003.

Ruettgers’s plan to ban hijab within three weeks of his election victory, despite opposition from other parties, was not the only reason for Muslims' concern.

His anti-Muslim drive is shown in many statements he made in the run up to state elections and even before.

Late last month, he told a German news channel that he is a Catholic who believes Christianity presented the best image of man and should therefore be leading all other religions worldwide.

The statements drew the ire of Muslim minority leaders in the state back then.

About one million Muslims of Germany's over three million live in the state, forming the biggest Muslim gathering in the 16-German states.

Islam comes third in Germany after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.