CNN.com - German court gives vote go-ahead

German court gives vote go-ahead

By CNN's Berlin Correspondent Chris Burns

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Germany's highest court has ruled that early elections can go ahead as planned on September 18, rejecting complaints against the early vote from two lawmakers.

The Federal Constitutional Court's decision removed the final obstacle to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's drive to hold elections a year ahead of schedule. Campaigning is already in full swing.

"The complaints are rejected," said presiding judge Winfried Hassemer.

"It was like deciding between the plague and cholera, between a government crisis and new elections" that were constitutionally uncomfortable, Hassemer added.

Struggling with 11.5 percent unemployment, Schroeder is seeking a new mandate for his reforms that have angered many of his own supporters. Polls currently indicate conservative Angela Merkel, who is promising tougher reforms, is headed toward becoming the country's first woman chancellor.

Two members of Schroeder's coalition argued the chancellor had a working majority in parliament and that new elections were unjustified.

Schroeder had to engineer a no-confidence vote against himself July 1 to secure the elections. Ever since Adolf Hitler consolidated power by calling new elections himself in 1933, Germany's post-World War II political system has required the vote and a call for elections by the president. The decision is subject to court challenge.

The chancellor decided to push for new elections after his Social Democrats lost a major state election in May, giving the conservatives an overwhelming majority in the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament.

Schroeder argued the Bundesrat was blocking many of his reforms and that he needed a new mandate to continue.

Polls indicate Merkel's coalition would take about 50 percent of the vote, while Schroeder's coalition would take about 35 percent. He is undermined by the new Linke, or Left, party made of disaffected Social Democrats and former communists.

Schroeder angered many of his own ranks with so-called Hartz IV reforms that cut welfare spending and aimed to force the hard-core unemployed back to work. The chancellor argues his reforms need more time to bear fruit.

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