Schroeder signals he may be set to bow out

CHANCELLOR Gerhard Schroeder yesterday signalled he may be ready to relinquish power two weeks after Germany’s most inconclusive post-war election, saying he would accept any decision his party takes.

For the first time since his Social Democrats (SPD) finished second to Angela Merkel’s conservatives in the September 18 election that produced a hung parliament, Mr Schroeder said he would not stand in the way if a stable government could be formed by the two main parties. The Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), won 226 parliament seats to 222 for the SPD, leaving each side and its allies short of a majority. The two rivals have been edging toward a grand coalition.

Mr Schroeder said yesterday that he was fighting to stay in the chancellery on behalf of the SPD and its centre- left policies and not for his personal ambitions.