An opinion poll for Stern magazine shows that the Green effect is also making itself felt in Germany. After Brazil, where the ecologist party candidate in the presidential elections won 19%, Germany’s Gruenen have overtaken the SPD in the polls. The Green are now on 24% as against 23% for the Social Democrats who sunk back to their historic minimum in the general election of September 2009. It is the first time that the newest party in the Bundesrepublik, the Greens, have overtaken the oldest, the SPD, which in three years will celebrate its 150th anniversary. Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU rose one point to 31%, with the Linke and the liberals of the FDP unchanged at respectively 10% and 5%. A red-green coalition would win 47%, 11 points more than the coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP. The head of Forsa opinion poll agency, Manfred Guellner said the party had also been helped by the strong leadership of Juergen Trittin and Renate Kuenast, with the former a candidate for chancellor if a green-red coalition were to win in 2013, while Kuenast is set to succeed the SPD’s Klaus Wowereit as Mayor of Berlin in next year’s regional elections. The Greens have been ahead of the SPD in the capital for the last few months.