Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1949. WEST GERMANY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 262, 18 August 1949, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1949. WEST GERMANY

The freest election held in Germany for a very long time revealed a number of interesting points. In the first place it showed very clearly that the Communists are very.weak. The campaign was a fairly bitter one, due principally to Communist activity, but the poll revealed that the people of Western Germany desire to have very little to do with them. The marked swing t 6 the Right seems clearly to indicate that the people desire to live a democratic form of life. However, the actual composition of the new Government has not yet been determined, for although the Christian Democrats topped the poll, they are not strong enough to form a government. In the poll only 240 seats were filled under the “first past the post” system, and the remaining 160 will be decided according to party lists in proportion to the total popular vote of each party in each West German State. Even when this is done, the Christian Democrats may be, obliged to seek the support of one of the lesser parties in order to be able to carry on. One of the biggest problems confronting the country is that of the.refugees, and in order to solve this, the new Government, when formed, will need to co-operate with the occupying Powers. The latter, in their turn, must decided whether they will continue with their dismantling policy, or whether they will assist to the extent -that the industries .involved can be restarted, and so provide avenues for absorbing the country’s army of unemployed. Allied to this, of course, is the provision of homes for refugees. Some commentators see danger ahead as a result of a swing to the Right, their contention being that it was largely" the policies pursued by the Right in Germany that prepared the way for Hitler. The German people it is to be hoped, have learned their'lesson, and the new. leaders must see to it that their programme does not again pave the way for the rise of a form of nationalism which, in time, will again envelop them. The mam thing is that the people of West Germany have been given the chance to determine their own future —the people in the East are not likely to have the same chance, and, after years of suffeiing and misery, it is hardly like!} that they will throw overboard the prospect of freedom and security.