BERLIN -- A Sleaze Scandal involving abuse of frequent flyer miles threatens to ruin the former East German Communist Party after its figurehead and media superstar resigned for an offense more associated with capitalist bosses.

Gregor Gysi quit as Berlin's city economics senator earlier this week after admitting he used frequent flyer miles earned during official travel to pay for private family trips.

"It's over for Gysi -- is it over for the post-communists?" The ***Berliner Kurier*** newspaper questioned in a banner headline.

The problem for the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) is this: as with no other German political movement, the PDS has been made by and is associated with only one person. Gregor Gysi, quite simply, is the PDS.

Articulate, intelligent and amusing, Gysi -- a 54-year-old lawyer -- was the darling of the left and even won grudging respect from those who opposed his politics.

Allegations that Gysi once worked as an agent for the East German Secret Police (Stasi) -- never proven and always denied -- did not harm his popularity. There is speculation, however, that a new Stasi probe may have played a role in his decision to quit.

PDS leaders are in state of shock over Gysi's departure and desperately seeking to revamp their campaign for Germany's September 22 general election.

"This is a stupid situation -- we were counting on Gregor Gysi," admitted PDS leader Gabi Zimmer. PDS parliamentary chairperson Petra Pau grumbled: "It's pretty difficult".

Analysts agree that if the PDS is tossed out of Germany's national Parliament on election day it could mark the beginning of the end for the post-communists whom Gysi rescued after the 1989 collapse of hardline East Germany and the 1990 reunification. Said the center-left Berliner ***Zeitung*** newspaper: "If the PDS loses...it will -- in the short or the long-term -- mean the end of its ambitions at (even) the regional level." The Berliner Kurier agreed: "The September 22 election will decide if the PDS has a future."

Under German electoral law the PDS must win at least 5 percent of the overall vote or three directly elected deputies to return to the Bundestag.

But even before the Gysi debacle the PDS was bumping along between 5 percent and 6 per cent. It remains to be seen if party comrades react with fury or forgiveness to his abuse of privilege. Gysi admitted at a news briefing Friday: "I made a mistake which was damaging to my image -- especially in the eyes of my supporters." He said some PDS leaders warned him that resigning would cost the party its 5 percent. "But I thought that if I don't go it will cost U.S. (victory)."

Eike Hennig, a political scientist at the University of Kassel, predicted Gysi's frequent-flyer scandal would cost votes because it undermined the party's moral capital.

"The PDS is in danger of not getting back into the Bundestag", warned Erwin K. Scheuch, an election and party specialist at the university of Cologne.

Conservative tabloid B.Z. was blunter in a commentary: "This is a major meltdown for the PDS".

PDS leaders are still hoping the Gysi glamour will help them squeak back into Parliament and Gysi says he will take part in a few election events.

Asked if he could imagine a political comeback, Gysi insisted he planned to return to work in his law firm.

"I think it's all over now -- I'm very careful about what could be in three or four years -- but I think it's over," he concluded.