Chancellor Schroeder calls for elections in Germany

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder today called for new elections, asking Parliament to bring down his government to enable him to seek a new mandate in a vote expected in September.

“Without a new mandate my political program cannot be carried forward,” said Schroeder, who is trailing badly in the polls and has suffered a series of defeats in local elections.

Opposition leader Angela Merkel, seeking to become Germany’s first female chancellor, later took the podium to say her party welcomed the chance for new elections, citing what she said was Schroeder’s poor economic record.

Schroeder has asked politicians from his own Social Democrat Party to abstain in a confidence vote today to ensure a defeat that would trigger the election.

He said he lost the trust of some in his own party after the SPD lost an election in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein in February. He called for elections in May after a stinging defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the party had governed for nearly four decades.

A chancellor, Schroeder said, “needs a constant and reliable basis for his policies,” Schroeder said, vowing to seek a mandate “to continue what has been begun.”

Merkel, head of the conservative Christian Democrats, said Schroeder’s coalition was no longer fit to govern.

If Schroeder’s deputies abstain from the confidence vote, to be held about 11.30am (10.30am Irish time), his governing coalition with the Greens will fall short of a majority. Schroeder has said he’ll be abstaining himself.

Despite grumbling from his back benchers, who are unhappy with the idea of having their four-year term cut short by a year, the move appears all but certain to succeed. With 304 seats held by the Social Democratic-Greens coalition in the 601-seat Bundestag, four or more abstentions would leave the government short of the 301 votes needed to express confidence.

German President Horst Koehler would then have 21 days to decide whether the government truly lacked the support to run the country. If he concurs, elections must be held with 60 days. Koehler is expected to take most or all of the 21 days to decide, in order to avoid having elections fall during the summer vacation season.

Schroeder has struggled against rising unemployment and economic stagnation, hindered by people in his own party who mistrusted limited pro-business measures he took to relieve the costs to companies from Germany’s extensive system of social benefits and worker protections.

Dubbed “Agenda 2010,” his reforms have not yet led to more growth, which was 1.7% last year after three years near zero. Nor have they dented unemployment, which is at 11.6% with some 4.7 million out of work, well above the 3.9 million he decried when he took office in 1998.

“f we do not significantly lower the unemployment rate, then we will not deserve to be re-elected,” he said at the time. He managed to barely win re-election in 2002 – but by opposing the unpopular US-led invasion of Iraq, not by fixing unemployment. The words still dog him.

Legally, Schroeder must convince Koehler his cabinet no longer has the support in parliament it needs to govern. The proposal has met with some scepticism, since the coalition retains a majority – although a thin one.

Koehler’s decision is crucial since the constitution does not permit parliament to dissolve itself.

If Koehler rules the government is still able to rule, Schroeder could resign to force new elections.

Deputies and minor parties have vowed to challenge the confidence procedure in court, adding a further possible complication.