Schroeder jubilant after Germany election
Written off as a lame duck just weeks ago, a jubilant Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder celebrated his better-than-expected performance in Sunday's election and insisted he can still lead Germany after his conservative opponent fell short of getting a majority.Official results showed that his government of Social Democrats and Greens had been voted out of power. Still, his party finished close enough behind Merkel's Christian Democrats to give him a chance to remain in office depending on coalition negotiations. Until this month, surveys gave the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union a lead of 12 points or more and indicated that Merkel was on course to form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats. "I was able to make my contribution to what many professional observers ... in this country believed was completely impossible weeks and even days ago," Schroeder told supporters. "I do not understand how the (Christian Democratic) Union, which started off so confidently and arrogantly, takes a claim to political leadership from a disastrous election result," Schroeder said.
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