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Voting begins in German election with race open
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-18 15:29
BERLIN (Reuters) - Voting began in Germany's closely fought election on
Sunday with millions of undecided voters holding the key to a result that will
have major implications for economic reform in Europe.
German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder waves to the crowd after his speech at an election
campaign rally in Frankfurt, central Germany September 17, 2005.
[Reuters] | Christian Democrat challenger Angela
Merkel is expected to emerge as Germany's first woman chancellor, displacing
Gerhard Schroeder who has led Germany for the past seven years at the head of a
center-left government of Social Democrats and Greens.
But with unprecedented numbers of voters apparently undecided on the eve of
the vote, it was unclear whether she could muster enough support to form the
center-right coalition government she says is needed to push through deep
reforms of Germany's ailing economy.
If she cannot, she will probably be forced to share power with Schroeder's
Social Democrats (SPD) in a "grand coalition" that financial markets fear would
produce gridlock and stall the reforms that Schroeder himself has already begun.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT). Voting closes and the first exit polls are
announced at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) and a provisional result is expected to be
announced in the early hours of Monday morning.
Weather forecasters are predicting fine autumn weather across most of the
country.
The final opinion polls published on Friday gave Merkel's center-right
coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) a slim lead in a race it once
dominated.
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