Germany's 'Schulz effect' fails to deliver in first election test

Berlin

IT was the German Social Democrats' (SPD) first electoral test under their new leader, Martin Schulz. They failed. Instead, voters in the state of Saarland flocked to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives on Sunday for fear of a new left-wing alliance.

"A damper for Schulzomania", the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily wrote in a Monday editorial as politicians in Berlin sought to evaluate the implications of the vote for the Sept 24 national election in Germany, the European Union's pivotal member state.