Schroder still confident of toppling Kohl despite narrowing poll gap

Mr Gerhard Schroder, the Social Democrat who hopes to oust Dr Helmut Kohl as Germany's chancellor next Sunday, said yesterday that he was still confident of victory despite a narrowing opinion poll gap between the parties. The latest polls point to a photo-finish, with Mr Schroder's Social Democrats (SPD) just two points ahead of Dr Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU).

Both candidates will focus during the final days of the campaign on the east of the country where swing voters are likely to decide the outcome of the election.

"I always knew it wouldn't be that easy. You will recall that I told you at the beginning of the year I was aiming for 40 per cent plus in the election," Mr. Schroder said in an interview published in Der Spiegel today.

One poll puts the SPD below 40 per cent for the first time in six months but party strategists insist that most voters have already decided that Germany needs a change from Dr Kohl.

The election could be decided in seven constituencies in eastern Germany, where the ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) hopes for a strong enough showing to retain its presence in the Bundestag. If the PDS is returned to the Bundestag, it will be more difficult for the SPD to form a majority with the Greens, their preferred coalition partners. SPD posters in the east advise voters: "If you want to annoy Kohl, vote PDS. If you want to get rid of him, vote SPD."

The Greens look set to win comfortably more than the 5 per cent share of votes needed to win seats in the Bundestag, despite internal disagreements and unpopular policies.

The position of Dr Kohl's coalition partners in the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) is less secure but most analysts expect them to scrape back into parliament.

A poor performance by the FDP would make it impossible for the present coalition to secure a majority and most analysts continue to predict that Sunday's election will mark the end of the Kohl era.

The chancellor took time off from the campaign to comment on the troubles of US President Bill Clinton, saying the media reaction made him throw up.

"The way the world's public is following the most private details in the Internet with a hypocritical craving, that makes me want to throw up, and I'm using that expression quite deliberately," he said.

In an interview with today's Die Welt, Dr Kohl said the way the public was reacting to the scandal over Mr Clinton and his relationship with Ms Monica Lewinsky was "catastrophic".

"I have no judgement to make on the private life of Bill Clinton. That is his affair, he must defend himself," Dr Kohl said. He added that he thought Mr Clinton would stay in office. "And I hope he stays."

"We have turbulence on the Asian financial markets, a civil war in Kosovo, genocide in central Africa. I can only hope the Americans soon recover their composure and capacity to act," he said.