The election results from Sunday's vote in Germany's largest state of North-Rhine Westphalia were decisive. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) were soundly defeated having received only 37.1 percent of the vote to the opposition Christian Democrats' (CDU) 44.8 percent. But while the results may not have been a surprise -- everyone was expecting a poor SPD showing -- Schroeder's announcement immediately afterwards was a shocker. Rather than sit out a political stalemate until federal elections originally scheduled for September 2006, Schroeder immediately called for federal elections to be held this autumn, one year earlier than planned.

While the SPD announcement briefly put the CDU on the defensive, they are likely to bounce back quickly. They will announce their candidate on May 30 -- it will likely be party leader Angela Merkel -- and the campaign will then begin in earnest. German commentators on Monday analyze the political bombshell.

"Death is different from being near death," observes the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in its philosophical editorial, noting that after this election, the SPD fully understands the truth of these words. Although the party leaders saw the debacle coming and steeled themselves for it, "it is much greater than they feared," and the psychological and political effect on the governing coalition of the SPD and Green Party only really became clear as the results scrolled across the nation's TV screens. The move for new elections, the paper writes, was the only way to deal with the despair. "As long as there is an election campaign, there is hope, even if it is only the hope for a miracle."

But hope for the chancellor may be on the way from beyond Germany's borders, suggests the center-left paper hopefully. "It could be that his roll on the European stage could become more important in the near future. If the French vote against the EU-constitution, then the chancellor, who was so shockingly rebuked at home, would become the statesman who must lead Europe out of a crisis even greater than that of the SPD," it says, noting that Chirac and Blair are unable to play such a role. But first the SPD has to deal with the internal struggle for direction. Can the party meld together the idea of modernization with the recent capitalists-are-locusts debate? If they try, says the Sueddeutsche, then the SPD might suffer the same fate as Rumpelstilskin: "It would tear itself in two." This is an historic time, really. "On Sunday, the republic was transformed: The chancellor is standing in quicksand, the SPD is on the brink of disaster -- but it is spurred on by the courage that comes from desperation."

And what of the opposition? "The CDU is in an inherently splendid position. Until the maneuver calling for new elections, they could watch the agony of (the governing coalition) with pleasure." But now they run the risk of being their own worst enemy and the commentator urges they place the following motto from the late Prince Johannes of Thurn and Taxis on their desks: "You can't lose such a great fortune to drink or whores or feasting. You can only lose it to stupidity."

"Well, that's that," says the left-leaning Die Tageszeitung. "The federal government ran out of breath." The commentator offers a bemused take on Muentefering's argument that the new elections are needed to solve the structural stalemate in the government. "How are we supposed to interpret this comment -- if not to beseech us to please not vote SPD?" The commentator adds that "he could have formulated it differently: I've had enough, folks. Just do what you want." But the plan really is "the best of many bad alternatives. Because for one thing, the SPD can save itself an internal test which, after the defeat in North-Rhine Westphalia, seemed almost inevitable." Most importantly, says the commentator, "in the face of SPD weakness, it has been forgotten that the CDU is also trying to find its way rather helplessly and up till now hasn't expressed coherent concepts for solving the most pressing problems." This puts Merkel in an uncomfortable position, although not, says the paper, "as long her political opponent is indirectly campaigning for the CDU."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that despite swearing that the North-Rhine Westphalia election would have no effect on business as usual, Chancellor Schroeder realized that he had to come up with a new plan. But his box of tricks is pretty empty, observes the paper. "Another natural catastrophe (like the flood in eastern Germany that helped him win in 2002) or war can't be queued up at will. Schroeder switched around more than enough ministers in his first term already.... And none of the half dozen candidates whose names were tossed around for ministerial posts before the election on Sunday are really associated with the spirit of change." Meanwhile, the frequent strategy changes that defined his second term, says the paper, just didn't work anymore. In trying to win over interest groups, the government lost sight of what matters: "Taking account of the public mood would, in the current situation, have meant concentrating all energy on job creation." Instead, rants the Frankfurter Allgemeine, "the Greens were allowed to tend to their playing fields while on the watch of Reformer (Minister of Economy and Labor Wolfgang) Clement, such monstrosities as the Federal Agency for Labor kept pace with the deficit in rocketing upwards."

According to the business daily Financial Times Deutschland, "the decision for a new election is a declaration of bankruptcy by the governing coalition -- they admit that they have no political project with which they could win over voters before the next election in 2006." That means they have turned the new elections into a calculated popularity contest. "The Chancellor continues to enjoy greater personal acceptance in the populace than (likely opposition candidate) Angela Merkel," observes the paper. At the same time the overall desire for change may be too strong to stop the trend. "The fact that (winner of the state election in North-Rhine Westphalia) Juergen Ruettgers, who isn't even considered to be a great star in his own party, swept away the Social Democrats in their great stronghold, shows how serious the situation is." And Schroeder can't even dare to hope that economy will pick up in time to help him. It just may be, says the paper, "that the SPD is secretly hoping to become the junior partner in a grand coalition. Not a bad solution, says the paper. "That would lift the blockade and Schroeder could step down with his head held high."