DUESSELDORF, Germany - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was to weigh into the campaign on Friday for a crucial state election which could leave his ruling coalition in tatters 16 months ahead of a general election.
Defeat for Schroeder`s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and their partners, the Greens, in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday would further weaken Schroeder`s grip on power with general elections due to take place in September 2006.
The 13.3 million voters in the industrial heartland of Germany look almost certain to elect the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), ending the SPD`s rule in one of its traditional strongholds where it has governed for 39 years.
Defeat in the country`s most populous state would complete a miserable series of election results for Schroeder.
In 1999, the SPD governed in 11 of Germany`s 16 regions but if it loses on Sunday it will be in charge of only five.
Opinion polls have shown that the margin of the opposition`s victory could be as great as 10 percent.
In a possible sign of the SPD`s growing desperation, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a Socialist, was to lend his support to Schroeder in the city of Dortmund on Friday.
Unemployment has soared to around five million nationally and nowhere has it bit harder than in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is home to the coal mines and steelworks of the Ruhr Valley.
Thirty years ago, coal and steel accounted for 830,000 jobs in the state, now the figure is just 130,000 and as a result, unemployment in some areas tops 12 percent.
A total of 1.1 million people are unemployed across the region.
Schroeder has introduced a series of national reforms to social security and the labour market that have improved competitiveness, but the measures have swelled the jobless total for the time being.
The current state premier, Peer Steinbrueck of the SPD, admits on his campaign poster that he "cannot promise jobs".
Steinbrueck conceded that "nationally, the overall trend is strongly against the SPD", but he pointed to the large number of undecided voters as proof that the race was far from over.
The German government strongly denied a newspaper report on Friday that Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement, who has overseen Schroeder`s reform package, would resign if the SPD were defeated at the weekend.
In a bid to win back their traditional electorate, the SPD has launched a capitalism-bashing initiative, assailing companies which invest abroad.
SPD party chairman Franz Muentefering reiterated the core message on Thursday.
"The economy must be there for the people and not the other way round," he said.
"Many companies adhere to this belief during this period of globalisation, but not all."
Not surprisingly, the campaign has been criticised by business leaders and many sections of the press have declared it a vote loser.
The centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung attacked Muentefering on Friday and said it looked increasingly as if his party was heading for a heavy defeat both this weekend and next year.
"Since Muentefering became SPD chairman, the last hope has died. In the last 14 months, the Social Democrats have clawed their way from election to election and after every rout, they say it will get better next time -- and then they lose again," the paper said.
05/20/2005 13:29 GMT