Edmund Stoiber
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Dr. jur. Edmund Stoiber (born September 28, 1941) is a German politician, currently minister-president of the state of Bavaria, chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU), and was slated to join Angela Merkel's office as Economics minister. However, on November 1, 2005, he announced his decision to stay in Bavaria.
Stoiber was born in Oberaudorf in the district of Rosenheim. Prior to entering politics in 1974 and serving in the Bavarian parliament, he was a lawyer and worked at the University of Regensburg. In 1978 he was elected secretary general of the CSU, a post he held until 1982/83. From 1982 to 1986 he served as deputy to the Bavarian secretary of state and then as minister of state from 1982 to 1986. Like many from southern Germany, he is Catholic; however, religion does not play a defining role in his politics. In 2002, he challenged Gerhard Schröder for the Chancellorship of Germany.
Edmund Stoiber is married to Karin Stoiber. They have three children: Constanze (1971), Veronica (1977), Dominic (1980) and three grandchildren: Johannes (1999), Benedict (2001) and Theresa Marie (2005).
Stoiber's conservative views and controversial remarks have made him a polarizing figure in German politics; most Germans are either fond of his politics or disdain them. Some have compared Stoiber to Oskar Lafontaine; both are close to the fringes of the German political mainstream, but come from opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Education and Profession
Stoiber attended the Ignaz-Günther-Gymnasium in Rosenheim, where he received his Abitur (High School Diploma) in 1961. His mandatory military service was with the Gebirgsdivision infantry division in Mittenwald and Bad Reichenhall and was cut-short due to a knee injury. Following his military service, Stoiber studied political science and then, in the fall 1962 in Munich, law. In 1967 he passed the state law exam and then worked at the University of Regensburg in criminal law and Eastern European law. He was awarded a doctorate of jurisprudence, and then in 1971 passed the second state examination with distinction.In May 1993, the Bavarian Landtag (parliament) elected him as minister-president succeeding Max Streibl.
Chancellor candidacy
In 2002, Stoiber became the chancellor candidate for the CDU/CSU after politically out-maneuvering the leader of the CDU, a Protestant woman, Angela Merkel, who had been the favoured option among the German populace but was unpopular within her own party.
In the run up to the 2002 election the CSU/CDU held a huge lead in the opinion polls and Stoiber famously remarked that "...this election is like a football match where it's the second half and my team is ahead by 2-0." However, on election day things had changed. The SPD had mounted a huge comeback, the CDU/CSU was narrowly defeated (though both the SPD and CDU/CSU had 38.4% of the vote, the SPD was ahead by a small 6,000 vote margin), and Gerhard Schröder was re-elected as chancellor by the parliament in a coalition with the Green Party of Germany. Many commentators fault Stoiber's mishandling of the floods in eastern Germany, in the run-up to the election, as a contributory factor in his party's poor electoral result and defeat. In addition, Schroeder distinguished himself from his opponent by taking an active stance against the United States-led Iraq War. His extensive campaigning on this stance was widely seen as swinging the election to the SPD in the weeks running up to the election.
Criticisms of Stoiber
While the conservative wing of the German political spectrum, primarily formed of the CDU and Christian Social Union of Bavaria, enjoys considerable support, this support tends to be less extended to Stoiber. He enjoys considerably more support in his home state of Bavaria than in the rest of Germany, where CDU leader Angela Merkel is more popular. This has its reasons: Merkel supports a kind of fiscal conservatism, but a more liberal social policy. Stoiber, on the other hand favors a more conservative approach to both fiscal and social matters, and while this ensures him the religious vote, strongest in Bavaria, it has weakened his support at the national level.
Stoiber, as a minister in the very conservative state of Bavaria, is widely known for advocating a reduction in the number of asylum seekers Germany accepts, something that prompted critics to label him xenophobic. In the late 1990s he critized the incoming Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) Gerhard Schröder for saying that he would work hard in the interest of Germans and people living in Germany; Stoiber took issue with the fact that Schröder pledged to work on behalf of non-citizens. Stoiber's remarks drew heavy criticism in the press.
During the run-up to the German general election in 2005, which was held ahead of schedule, Stoiber created controversy through a campaign speech held in the beginning of August 2005 in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. He said, "I do not accept that the East will again decide who will be Germany's chancellor. It cannot be allowed that the frustrated determine Germany's fate." People in the new federal states of Germany (the former German Democratic Republic) were offended by Stoiber's remarks. While the CSU attempted to portray them as "misinterpreted", Stoiber created further controversy when he claimed that "if it was like Bavaria everywhere, there wouldn't be any problems. Unfortunately, not everyone in Germany is as intelligent as in Bavaria." The tone of the comments was exacerbated by a perception by some within Germany of the state of Bavaria as "arrogant".
Many, including members of the CDU, attribute Stoiber's comments and behavior as a contributing factor to the CDU's losses in the 2005 general election. He was accused by many in the CDU/CSU of offering "half-hearted" support to Angela Merkel, with some even accusing him of being reluctant to support a female candidate from the East. (This also contrasted unfavorably with Merkel's robust support for his candidacy in the 2002 election.) He has insinuated that votes were lost because of the choice of a female candidate. He came under heavy fire for these comments from press and politicians alike, especially since he himself lost almost 10% of the Bavarian vote - a dubious feat in itself as Bavarians tend to consistently vote conservatively. Nonetheless, a poll has suggested over 9% may have voted differently if the conservative candidate was a man from the West, although this does not clearly show if such a candidate would have gained or lost votes for the conservatives.