Word: barzel
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...other side is Rainer Barzel, 48, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, an able but unpopular politician whose chief problem has been winning trust (see box, next page). Barzel, however, has a deep-running issue: inflation. Prices are rising at the rate of 5.5% per year, a frightening spectacle to Germans who remember the disastrous inflationary days after World War I. Though there is no evidence that Barzel could do better than Brandt at controlling inflation, his party is known for heading the government that produced the Wirtschajtswunder (economic miracle) of the 1950s, a period of rapid growth...
...election is a year ahead of schedule, and was called as a last resort to break a paralyzing tie vote in the Bundestag. There, Brandt and his coalition partners, the Free Democrats, led by Walter Scheel, could command only 248 votes-exactly the same number mustered by Barzel and his allies, the Christian Social Union, which flourishes in Bavaria under Franz Josef Strauss. Originally, Brandt had enjoyed a 254-242 margin; the gradual defection of six Bundestag members, however, reduced that to a tie. Brandt, in consequence, could no longer govern or even get his budget passed. Because the West...
...Barzel's posters stress the theme "We build progress on stability." So far the C.D.U. leader has not revealed what he would do about inflation, beyond limiting government spending. He instead appears to be relying on the reputation of his party for prudent management. But Barzel's election could conceivably fuel a new round of price increases, since West Germany's unions, which have been remarkably restrained under Social Democrat Brandt, would feel no obligation to temper their demands if Barzel was in power...
Below the surface issues the contest has an emotional, ideological edge -Barzel blames Brandt's Social Democrats for "permissiveness" and points with well-rehearsed alarm at neo-Marxist members of Jusos (for Jungsozialisten), the under-35 wing of Brandt's party. The Jusos have swung so far left that the Chancellor himself recently admonished them for "polemics against the majority opinion of the party...
...most recent public-opinion polls, taken at the start of September, showed the government parties with 50% of the vote and the opposition with 48%. Clearly both sides will be trying desperately to gain a decisive advantage; otherwise the election might end in a tie and put Brandt and Barzel back where they started...