West Germany: Besser ist der Ludwig

Everybody was wrong, including Ludwig Erhard. For weeks, the pollsters had been predicting a virtual tie between Erhard's Christian Democratic Union and the opposition Social Democrats in West Germany's national elections. Watching the returns trickling in on TV with his wife Luise, the Chancellor confided, "I always counted on having a jump on the opposition of about 5% . I felt it in my fingertips."

His Fingerspitzengefühl was a little off. When all the votes were counted, Erhard's Christian Democrats had won by more than 8% over their rivals. The C.D.U. polled 47.6% of the vote, up from 45.3% in 1961. The Social Democrats won 39.3% of the vote, for a gain of 3% . The only losers were Vice-Chancellor Erich Mende's Free Dem ocratic Party, whose percentage of the ballots slipped from 12.8% to 9.5%. The Christian Democrats elected 244 Deputies to the Bundestag, the Social Democrats 201, and the Free Democrats 49.

Torchlight Serenade. It was Erhard's first independent campaign since he took over as Chancellor from Konrad Adenauer, and he scored an impressive personal victory over West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt. Observers had wondered whether Onkel Ludwig's earnest, professorial platform style might not bore the voters. As it turned out, they seemed to lap it up. On election night, 60 teen-agers dropped around to serenade him by the light of torches and a pale quarter-moon. The tune was his campaign song:

Willy ist so gut nicht, Darum rufen wir euch zu Besser ist der Ludwig Und die C.D.U*

Not far away, at S.P.D. headquarters, a tired, peaked Willy Brandt was already stepping before the TV cameras to concede defeat. "The main-reason for the outcome," said he, "is that in wide areas we have not succeeded in removing prejudices and familiarizing people with our programs." For Willy, that failure meant the end of a national career. Though he won a greater share of the vote for his party than any Socialist had ever done before, Brandt fell far short of winning a role in 'the government as part of a "grand coalition." Two days after the election, Brandt announced that he would not try for the chancellorship in 1969.

Head for a Head? For Erhard, victory did not mean the end of struggle. Before him lay the intricate task of building a Cabinet before the Bundestag convenes on Oct. 19. It might not be easy, for the C.D.U., three seats short of an outright majority, inevitably needs Mende's Free Democrats once again for a coalition that could wield firm parliamentary control. Mende promptly staked out his claims: for himself, the vice-chancellorship and Ministry of All-German Affairs again, plus three other Cabinet posts for his party. Somehow, however, Erhard would have to reconcile Mende's demands with those of former Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss. Strauss is chief of the 48-man Bavarian branch of the C.D.U., which won a thumping majority of 55% in Bavaria, and he would certainly be entitled to sit in the Cabinet—except for the fact that Mende won't have him. Flying into Bonn to proclaim that he meant "to represent Bavarian interests," Strauss let it be known that his price for sitting out this administration might be Mende's head—and possibly the head of Foreign Minister Gerhard Schröder.