| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| No Confidence Vote Means New Elections In Germany |
| 2005-07-01 |
| The government of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder lost a confidence vote in parliament Friday, giving Schroeder the chance he has sought to hold new elections. The confidence motion got 151 votes, short of the 301 votes needed as members of Schroeder's own party obeyed his request to abstain. Struggling with a sluggish econony and dissent in his own ranks, Schroeder says he wants an election to get a new mandate from voters to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #8 I'm very late in the day on this topic, but hope someone will be able to answer quickly. Basically, WTF? So Schroeder orders his own party to throw a no-confidence vote. This "shows" his cabinet doesn't have the "support" of parliament, but the President may or may not agree? In this case, it was rigged, but if he had really lost a no-confidence vote? Could the President still say "You still have the support of parliament?" What is the limit on his discretion? And why didn't he simply resign? Is the government not allowed to? Sheesh. I had better not hear anything about the Electoral College being hard to understand any more. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-07-01 23:01 |
| #7 The gameplan should be to allow the Christian Democrats to win. Then the Christian Democrats do the painful things necessary to fix the economy and the voters hate them for it. Then Schroeder's party can win the next dozen elections and work on screwing up the economy again to buy off voters. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-07-01 17:21 |
| #6 Well Steve, you headline wasn't wrong... my comment was somewhat ironic. He DID lose the confidence vote but he wanted to. Maybe change the headline again and leave out "vote". The irony may be clearer then. If Schroeder only had the style to... gasp... step down. He put the Federal President in a very difficult position because the proceedings this morning really exposed the whole thing as the sham it is. It is not impossible that the German Constitutional Court rules against new elections. I hope it does not because I can't stand to see these people any longer. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-07-01 09:40 |
| #5 And why shouldn't he? Look at what an outstanding job his govt. has done with germany. What's unemployment, no more than 15% or so? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-07-01 09:04 |
| #4 Fixed it, TGA. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-07-01 08:37 |
| #3 As Arnie said: Time to clean house. What a disgrace red/green has been. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-07-01 08:32 |
| #2 I feel for you TGA. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-01 08:12 |
| #1 No, that should read: "Schroeder wins the Non-Confidence Vote" It's been a pathetic show |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-07-01 06:58 |