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German election set for September
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QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Germany's president on Thursday approved a request by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to hold a general election a year early, after agreeing that Schroeder's government no longer had enough support to govern. In a nationwide address, Horst Koehler said he had ordered parliament to disband and scheduled the voting for September 18. "It is right that in the current situation, where democracy is sovereign, that the people are able to decide the future direction of politics in this country," Koehler told Germans in a nationwide address. "I call on the parties to communicate clearly and responsibly their proposals to solve our problems. I am quite certain that we have the talent and ability to ensure our freedom and to form a modern social state," he added. Schroeder sought the early balloting after his Social Democrats lost a key contest May 22 in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It has the largest population of the nation's 16 federal states. The outcome caused Schroeder to lose even more control of the upper house of parliament to conservatives. On July 1, Schroeder intentionally lost a confidence vote by asking his supporters to abstain, saying the nation faced too many crucial issues, such as chronic unemployment, to wait another 12 months for balloting. His chief challenger will be Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, who is leading in the polls by 15 to 20 points, giving her a shot at becoming Germany's first woman chancellor. Two officials said they would challenge Koehler's decision to change the election date by presenting their case to the Constitutional Court, which would rule no later than early September. Schroeder became chancellor in 1998 and was re-elected by a slim margin in 2002. Since then, unemployment has risen to nearly 12 percent, although it is beginning to decrease. The chancellor strongly opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and notes as part of his platform that he kept German troops from serving there. -- CNN Correspondent Chris Burns contributed to this report. 
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