And the new Left Party would struggle to cross the 5% threshold for seats in parliament.
Might a coalition with the Left Party be an option in a few years' time?
Grigory Yavlinsky, the liberal-minded leader of Yabloko, the main centre-left party, has fought an energetic campaign.
Two opposition parties - the Social Democrats and the Greens - abstained, while the Left Party voted against.
That is not good enough for the Left Party, which is taking its case to the constitutional court.
The centre-left party of the Turkish prime minister, Bulent Ecevit , won most seats in a general election.
The biggest winner was the Left Party, which in both elections crossed the 5% threshold for parliamentary seats.
The town outside Madrid, where Letizia Ortiz owns a home, is run by the ardently Republican United Left party.
The SPD had ruled out governing with the Left Party after this election.
Protestors from the Left Party are up in arms over the sexism and shallow materialism that they argue Barbie symbolizes.
The Left Party could displace the CDU as the Social Democrats' governing partner in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
His most likely allies could be the populist Roldosista Party, with 15 seats, and dissident members of the Democratic Left party.
The SPD has ruled out forming an alliance with the radical Left Party at the federal level, limiting Mr Steinmeier's coalition options.
The Catalan Republican Left party also backs independence, and the two parties could form a majority in parliament on the independence issue.
CNN: Ruling party in Catalonia region loses seats in parliament
This is not the only parallel with the rise of Syriza, the hard-left party in Greece that opposes that country's bail-out programme.
Against this block, probably, will be ranged the Democratic Left party and the party of former president Abdala Bucaram, deposed in February.
The new left party, by contrast, won just 4.9 percent support in the West - compared also to 25 percent in the East.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's New Democracy party leads a coalition government which also includes the socialist Pasok and the small Democratic Left party.
So Greeks are switching in large numbers to the far left party, Syriza, which may win, but probably will come a close second.
In nearby Saxony-Anhalt it may come top, but the SPD might continue its coalition with the CDU rather than accept a Left Party premier.
One voice speaking for this nationalism at the moment is that of Bulent Ecevit, a deputy prime minister and leader of the Democratic Left party.
One possible candidate could be the small, Democratic Left party, which accepts the loan deal but wants an easing of the terms of the austerity measures.
The biggest influence on the election, though, will be neither Ms Merkel's campaign gaffes nor Mr Stoiber's antics, but the performance of the new Left Party.
In many areas the tally was certified by his own centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution, which scored its best-ever result in the vote for Congress.
Her plan was for the Left Party to prop up the government from outside, giving it a first taste of power in a western German state.
Mr Stratoulis, from the the radical-left party Syriza, said he was leaving a football match at the Olympic stadium when he was approached by the men.
Some analysts said Mr. Samaras might also try to lure the Democratic Left party into joining a coalition in order to build a bigger majority in Parliament.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, a leader of France's far-left party who is no fan of Cahuzac, said the budget minister should nonetheless keep his position for the time being.
SPD, whose support has slid to some 26%, has two big problems: doubts about Mr Beck as its leader and the full emergence of the Left Party as a rival.
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