Business as Usual for a Big Winner

Schmidt settles into Europe's strongest political position

The campaign had been marred by smears and name-calling; the election aftermath was marked by recriminations and a few gloomy second thoughts. "We suffered a heavy defeat," acknowledged Helmut Kohl, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (C.D.U.). "The results are disappointing," said Hans-Juergen Wischnewski, deputy chairman of the winning Social Democratic Party (S.P.D.). But not, clearly, to Wischnewski's boss, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Three days after the election he strode briskly to his chancellery office, and in an impatient, business-as-usual manner, presided over a meeting of his newly reappointed Cabinet as if nothing had happened.

In fact Schmidt's considerable triumph in the Oct. 5 national elections left him in the strongest political position of any Western European leader. France's President Valery discard d'Estaing was bracing for a spring election that could reduce his standing with the voters. In Britain, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher faced sharp criticism for her monetarist program. But Schmidt, 61, overseer of the Continent's healthiest major economy (5.1% inflation and 3.5% unemployment) had a new mandate to govern for another four years, probably without serious challenge.

The final tally of 38.2 million votes showed that Schmidt's coalition of his own S.P.D. and the Free Democratic Party (F.D.P.) won 53.8%, a gain of more than 3% compared with the 1976 election. The conservative coalition of the C.D.U. and the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (C.S.U.) fell to 44.5%, a drop of more than 4%. Schmidt thus quadrupled his majority in the Bundestag to a more-than-comfortable 45 seats. The new lineup in the 497-seat lower house will give the S.P.D. 218 seats, the F.D.P. 53 and the C.D.U.-C.S.U. 226.

Some of Schmidt's colleagues were disappointed that the S.P.D. had gained so little, an increase of only .3% in the popular vote, to 42.9%. In fact, Schmidt had done little to dispel the impression that he never wanted his own party to win an absolute majority, lest its obstreperous left wing get out of control.

The coalition's strong margin of victory was provided by the moderate Free Democrats, who made their best national election showing in 20 years: 10.6% of the popular vote, and 14 new seats. Many voters evidently turned to the F.D.P. out of fear of extremists in the other camps. Chairman Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who is Schmidt's Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister, said that his party would not ask for more than the four key ministries it already has. Instead, the F.D.P. planned to exert more influence in policymaking, and thus strengthen Schmidt's hand in resisting the demands of radicals in his own party for more socialist welfare programs and a more pliant stance toward Moscow.

As for the C.D.U.-C.S.U. opposition, it was already beset by internal squabbles. No wonder. The alliance dropped from 48.6% of the popular vote to 44.5%, and lost 17 seats in the Bundestag. Though Conservative Challenger Franz Joseph Strauss insisted that he might try again in the future, many party regulars were convinced that they had probably seen the 65-year-old Bavarian politician's last hurrah as a candidate for Chancellor. "Yes, I made mistakes," Strauss acknowledged last week. "There is only one German political figure who thinks he never made a mistake: Helmut Schmidt."

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