- Title: GERMANY: CAMPAIGNING FOR GENERAL ELECTION
- Date: 24th September 1998
- Summary: LUDWIGSHAFEN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 23, 1998) (RTV) 1. LAS SPD FLAGS PAN TO QUEUES OF PEOPLE AT EXTERIOR BUILDING 0.15 2. MV INTERIOR, PEOPLE LOOKING AT CAMPAIGN STALLS. 0.21 3. SCU WOMAN SAYING "I WILL VOTE FOR HIM. I EXPECT A LOT FROM HIM. I EXPECT HIM TO CHANGE THE SITUATION IN OUR COUNTRY AND THAT THE LITTLE PEOPLE ARE NOT ALWAYS ASKED TO FOOT
- Embargoed: 9th October 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LUDWIGSHAFEN AND HAMBURG, GERMANY
- City:
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA60YVON9SBDQH30EZY5H67WBKA
- Story Text: Both German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his opponent Gerhard Schroeder are campaigning ahead of the country's weekend general election SPD (Social Democrat) candidate for chancellor Gerhard Schroeder spoke in Kohl's town of Ludwigshafen while the chancellor addressed a sometimes hostile crowd in the port city of Hamburg on Wednesday (September 23) in the build-up to Sunday's (September 27) election.Schroeder's supporters said it's time Kohl's grip on power in Germany came to an end.
"I will vote for him (Schroeder).I expect a lot from him.
I expect him to change the situation in our country and that the little people are not always asked to foot the bill.I hope for more justice, especially in regard to financial matters," one woman said.
A man interviewed by Reuters Television said Kohl's long term in power was not democratic.
"To raise the unemployment figure from 1.8 million to almost seven million unemployed, then it is time to go," he said.
Dissatisfaction with the jobless rate in Germany is a theme Schroeder has been quick to pick up on.He told supporters all social democratic heads of state managed to lower employment last year.In Germany however, it was different.we must and we will change that, that is why we need a new government." Sentiment was little better for Kohl at a rally he addressed in Hamburg.One former Kohl voter said he would vote for Schroeder on Sunday because, "we need new leaders in Germany and a new style to conduct politics".A woman said Kohl had no idea of the mood in Germany.
"I deal with the new eastern German states on a daily basis and I would say it is all in a shambles.I ask myself how much he knows.Someone who knows as little as he does cannot lead us into the next millennium," she said.
In an indication of how closely fought the September 27 vote is expected to be, two major polling institutes signalled contradictory trends.
A daily Forsa institute survey showed Kohl's conservatives, who had been making slow but steady progress, slipping a point to 37 percent while the Social Democrats (SPD) gained to 42.
But Dieter Walz said an internal poll by his Emnid institute had the gap down to just one point, 40 to 39, the narrowest since March.
A few hours earlier Kohl had repeated his message that only one poll counts, the one on Sunday when 60 million voters will decide if he deserves a record fifth term in office.
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