BERLIN/GERMANY: GERMANS HAVE BEGUN VOTING IN THE FOURTH ELECTION SINCE RE-UNIFICATION IN 1990

Record ID: 377100

  • Title: BERLIN/GERMANY: GERMANS HAVE BEGUN VOTING IN THE FOURTH ELECTION SINCE RE-UNIFICATION IN 1990
  • Date: 22nd September 2002
  • Summary: (W3) BERLIN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 22, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV MAN ENTERING SCHOOL BUILDING USED AS POLLING STATION 0.08 2. CU SIGN POINTING TO POLLING STATION 0.12 3. SV MAN SHOWING HIS IDENTITY CARD TO AIDES 0.20 4. CLOSE-UP OF BALLOT PAPERS AND MANS I.D. (2 SHOTS) 0.29 5. SLV MAN CASTING HIS BALLOT AS WOMAN SHOW
  • Embargoed: 7th October 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BERLIN / WOLFRATHSHAUSEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA5M2RD8UEN1OC5UG6LCL9668X
  • Story Text: Germans have begun voting on whether to keep Chancellor
    Gerhard Schroeder or opt for conservative Edmund Stoiber in a
    neck-and-neck contest after a campaign overshadowed by a
    souring of U.S-German relations.

    Stoiber cast his ballot in his Bavarian home town of
    Wolfrathshausen about an hour after polls opened.



    More than 60 million Germans are eligible to vote
    on Sunday (September 22) in the fourth election since
    re-unification in 1990.

    Final opinion polls showed Schroeder's Social Democrats
    less than one percentage point ahead of the conservative
    CDU/CSU led by Edmund Stoiber.

    Stoiber cast his ballot in his Bavarian home town of
    Wolfrathshausen just over an hour after the polls opened at 8
    a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday morning (September 22). Polling
    booths close at 1600 GMT.

    The final days of campaigning were overshadowed by
    Washington's anger at alleged remarks by a minister who
    reportedly compared President George W. Bush with Hitler.

    "Ever since the outrageous remarks by (German justice
    minister Herta) Daeubler-Gmelin Germany has been manoeuvred
    into an isolated and dangerous position," Stoiber told
    reporters upon leaving the polling station.

    George W. Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza
    Rice said U.S.-German relations had been "poisoned".

    In one of the closest elections in postwar German history,
    voters face the dilemma of liking charismatic centre-left
    Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, but feeling dissatisfied with
    his Social Democrat party (SPD).

    Some 61.2 million people are eligible to vote and a huge
    postal vote suggested voter turnout would be a
    post-unification record. Interest has been fuelled by
    unprecedented TV debates in a campaign that has focused more
    on the personalities of the candidates than previous election
    battles.

    Schroeder's conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber is far
    less popular, but opinion polls show his party is seen as a
    more capable manager of the economy.

    Two last-minute polls released on Friday (September 20)
    showed Schroeders SPD clinging to a lead of about half a
    percentage point over the conservatives. It means it is far
    from certain whether the SPD and their junior coalition
    partners, the Greens of Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, will
    be able to stay in power.



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