BERLIN, May 15 (UPI) -- Germany's Social Democrats have elected the popular Kurt Beck, a state premier, as their leader to revive the party's former dominance in German politics.
The Social Democrat Party, or SPD, the partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in the governing grand coalition, Sunday evening elected Beck with 95.1 percent of the ballot.
Beck vowed to sharpen the party's profile in government; since Merkel took office late last year, her conservatives have gained in popularity, while the SPD has lost support.
"It's important that we stay close to the ordinary people," Beck said, in reference to the party's socialist roots. "We can become the decisive force in Germany because our ideas are the right ones."
Beck succeeds Matthias Platzeck, an SPD hopeful who stepped down last month after just 99 days in office after he suffered from a nervous breakdown and acute hearing loss.
Beck now is the most likely candidate to challenge Merkel in the 2009 chancellor's race. He has been a widely popular politician in his home state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where he won the prime minister's position with an overwhelming majority.
The SPD and the conservatives form an unusual left-right coalition government that unites the former rivals of four decades in their task of steering Germany out of an economic crisis.
