Germany´s SPD Divided Before Hamburg Vote

It has also thrown the SPD into turmoil before the Hamburg vote, which is expected to deliver a further electoral setback to Merkel´s CDU.

Two days before a closely watched election in the city-state of Hamburg, Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) are fighting among themselves over whether to work, at least informally, with a rival, far-left party.

The Social Democrats, who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), look set to go back on previous pledges and use votes from the Left party to get their candidate elected premier of the state of Hesse.

The shift, widely reported by local media and not denied by SPD Chairman Kurt Beck, would be significant for the SPD and could have major implications for the German political landscape ahead of 2009's national election.

It has also thrown the SPD into turmoil before the Hamburg vote, which is expected to deliver a further electoral setback to Merkel's CDU after it suffered losses in the two large western states of Hesse and Lower Saxony last month.

The Left, a group of ex-communists and disgruntled former SPD supporters has won wide appeal among Germany's less affluent voters since its formation last year, but is viewed as deeply unreliable by much of the SPD.

One of its deputies in Lower Saxony was forced out last week when she urged the return of East Germany's Stasi secret police and called the Berlin Wall a legitimate defence against westerners seeking cheap eastern goods.

"If (Hesse SPD candidate Andrea) Ypsilanti allows herself to be elected with the help of the Left, she would be dependent on these people," SPD parliamentary leader Peter Struck told Friday's Handelsblatt newspaper.

His indirect criticism of Beck was echoed by other senior figures in the SPD, some of whom warned that the move could damage the party's chances in Hamburg.

Michael Naumann, the SPD's leading candidate in Hamburg, was quick to rule out teaming up with the Left there.

"No, no, no, no, no," he said.

Merkel's conservatives have also seized on the shift, citing it as proof the SPD cannot be trusted.

"The impression is emerging that power is more important than morality for the SPD," said Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of the CDU.

Polls indicate that CDU Premier Ole von Beust will lose his absolute majority on Sunday but he is likely to hold on to power in coalition with the Greens -- which would be a first for Germany at state level -- or the SPD in a "grand coalition" which would mirror Merkel's federal partnership.

The Left looks poised to enter the Hamburg parliament, giving it seats in 10 of Germany's 16 states.