Posted on 07/01/2005 12:08:36 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
BERLIN (AFP) - The German parliament is expected to pass a no-confidence vote against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at his request in a move aimed at triggering early elections this autumn.
Schroeder, who is trailing badly in opinion polls and has failed to get Germany's languid economy moving, said in May he would seek the vote after the latest in a bitter series of state poll reversals.
Although pollsters believe early elections could well put an end to his seven-year tenure, the embattled Schroeder has said he needs the vote to win fresh affirmation from voters.
His spokesman Bela Anda said this week that Schroeder had doubts about whether "he could have constant faith in a parliamentary majority for his policies".
He is on tricky constitutional ground and is expected in a speech before the Bundestag lower house to deliver an intricate defense of his decision to seek new elections via this route rather than, for example, resign.
Coalition deputies have been asked to abstain Friday and Schroeder has said he will do the same, putting himself in the bizarre position of withholding support from his own government.
Opposition lawmakers, eager to take back the reins after seven years in the wilderness, will of course back the measure.
If President Horst Koehler agrees to dissolve parliament on the basis of the no-confidence vote and call new elections in September, Schroeder will face a challenge from conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel, who aims to become Germany's first female chancellor.
A poll by independent opinion research institute Forsa this week showed Merkel's Christian Union alliance with 47 percent support, versus just 26 percent for Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD). Their junior coalition partner, the Greens, tallied seven percent.
Meanwhile a new leftist alliance grouping former East German communists and SPD dissidents reached 11 percent support, creating a fresh complication for Schroeder. The Christian Union's preferred coalition partner, the Free Democrats, scored six percent.
Although a vast majority of Germans hope the poll will be held this year -- 12 months ahead of schedule -- the move could still be thwarted by a court challenge.
Some coalition lawmakers, fearful of losing the election and bewildered by the request to express no-confidence in a government they still support, have said they are weighing an appeal to the federal constitutional court, Germany's highest tribunal.
But SPD leader Franz Muentefering said Thursday that the party fully expected new elections and was arming for battle.
"There is no plan B," he said.
Friday's vote is the second time Schroeder has faced a no-confidence vote before parliament.
In 2001, he called the vote to discipline members of the coalition opposed to committing German troops to the US-led war on terrorism after the September 11 suicide hijackings. He won by a razor-thin margin.
So long Gerhard.
The vote of no-confidence has gone through:
595 votes total
151 representatives expressed confidence in Mr. Schroeder
296 no-votes
148 abstentions
Now it's up to President Koehler.
Well deserved smack down!
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