Growing senior clout may influence German election

By Erik Kirschbaum

GOERLITZ, Germany (Reuters) - Forget labour unions, the car lobby, and never mind the farmers' association.

When it comes to political clout in Germany, it is the bloc of senior citizens that elected leaders worry about pleasing most, a special interest group with unrivalled influence that no candidate in their right mind would dare to antagonise.

Not only are the retirees the fastest-growing voter group in a country with a rapidly ageing population, but German seniors -- who survived a world war, a Cold War and a dictator or two -- vote more reliably in big numbers than any other age group.

"Pensioners have become a decisive force in elections," said Dietmar Herz, political scientist at Erfurt University. "In our ageing society their influence keeps expanding. They're a bloc that always votes. No party can afford to annoy them."

Juergen Falter, a Mainz University political scientist, added: "They get a disproportionate share of attention."

Just in time for the September 27 election, pensioners were treated in July to an unexpectedly generous 2.4 percent rise in retirement benefits even though the inflation rate is near zero. That present will cost 3 billion euros per year.

A further pre-election gift from Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition undermined years of reform efforts in one fell swoop: new legislation outlawing pension cuts. Forever. Pensions will keep rising each year even if workers' wages fall.

Both Merkel's conservatives and her rival Frank-Walter Steinmeier's Social Democrats have been tripping over each other to try to keep the senior voters in their column.