Conservatives rally to oust Schroeder

GERMAN opposition leader Angela Merkel’s conservatives rallied for the final three-week push of the German general election campaign with polls showing unanimously that victory is within their grasp.

At a party congress in the western city of Dortmund ahead of the September 18 election, Ms Merkel’s Christian Union alliance said it was ready to unseat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder after seven years in opposition.

“Twenty days left and then we’ll have new hope and new prospects,” Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber said ahead of a speech by Ms Merkel. “Schroeder retired, Merkel as chancellor and Germany on the road to a new beginning.”