German court to rule on election

[erolz]

Germany's Supreme Court is due to announce whether a general election planned for 18 September can go ahead or not.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4181468.stm

[magikthrill]

so why does schroeder want early elections if he's sure he's going to lose?

[brother]

I was wondering the same thing as you MT.

[cannedmoose]

Read this... explains all...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4638675.stm

[brother]

Cheers for that moosey.

[magikthrill]

so is this article implying that he Schroeder is calling for elections for the benefit of his own country at the expense of him losing his powerful position?

[brother]

[magikthrill]

thats what i found surprising as well. maybe he is ill who knows.

[city]

Thanks Moosey, BBC is always a reliable source :-)

Well, there ain't any rumours at all that he is suffering from any disease.
The public understanding is indeed that he is doing what he does for the good of the country.
But maybe he just couldn't be bothered anymore trying to do his job and never have safe majority for decisions within his own coalition.

Apart from that its not sure that they/he will loose the elections!

[erolz]

From what I understand of politics this kind of 'forcing and early general election' after a bad 'local election' result is not unusal (in the Uk at least) and not really about the 'good of the country' either.

The logic usualy goes along the lines that the local defeat is a sign of 'protest voting'. The fear is that if such 'protest votes' go against the government for a proplonged period of time it will cost the government at the general election. The idea of forcing a general election quickly after such a negative local result is that of a 'put up or shut up' call to the electorate. The hope is that those that voted against the government in local elections would not actually do so in similar numbers in a general election - provided the negative local results have not had time to 'mature' and be repeated several times over before the general election. It's a risky strategy but one that is desinged to keep the government in government imo.

[city]

yes, but in that federal state (NRW - North rhine westphalia) they had been in power since 1966, plus its the state with the biggest population.
Out of 16 federal states here they only have the majority in 4 states and even there its only enough when forming coalitions.
Since the government needs the approval from the states for certain decisions Schröder considered it impossible to further implement his plans.

We will see in about three weeks time who wins :-)

(sidenote: I'm not very much into politics plus I'm missing the detailed knowledge and the right vocabulary, therefore I say sorry in case anything sounds weird here)

[cannedmoose]

I think City's right about Schroeder no longer having any fight left in him. He's had trouble managing his coalition for some time and to be honest he's looked exhausted and past caring for the past couple of years. In the UK, the system is different in that an early election does not have to be forced, the government in power can call an election at any time, theoretically they could call one after being in power for one day, but obviously this would never happen.

[magikthrill]