GERMANY: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and conservative rival Mr Edmund Stoiber, in a dead heat before the September 22nd election, traded barbs over jobs and Iraq during a final live television debate, but failed to land a knockout punch.
Wearing almost identical dark suits and red-striped ties, the candidates quickly wrested control of the debate from the two public television moderators, beginning a direct exchange of blows unseen during the first-ever US-style TV duel in Germany two weeks ago.
That debate ended as a draw, according to most opinion surveys, despite snap polls that gave Mr Schröder a clear advantage.
An instant poll on ARD television yesterday evening after the nearly 90-minute-long event showed a similar trend, with 50 per cent of those surveyed calling the telegenic Mr Schröder "more convincing" compared to 28 percent for the stiffer Mr Stoiber.
Among undecided voters, who could make the difference in the neck-and-neck race, an initial majority also appeared to prefer Mr Schröder.
Ignoring a question on his preferences for a ruling coalition, Mr Stoiber went on the attack first, hounding Mr Schröder over his broken promise to drive down unemployment from the more than four million when he was elected in 1998 to below 3.5 million.
Mr Schröder retorted that the latest unemployment figures showed joblessness had dropped slightly in August, although it was still hovering above the politically sensitive mark of four million.
He added with a wolfish grin that Bavaria, of which Mr Stoiber is premier, was the only state that had shown a sharp increase in joblessness compared to one year ago.
On Iraq, Mr Schröder defended his flat opposition to German participation in possible US military strikes against Iraq, even with a new United Nations mandate.
Mr Schröder denied Mr Stoiber's charge that the chancellor's forceful assertion of his position had harmed relations between Berlin and Washington and was intended primarily to score points in war-shy Germany.
"Friendship does not mean that you say 'yes and amen' to everything," Mr Schröder said.
Mr Stoiber also looked to domestic security for points last night, calling for tougher laws to fight terrorism.
He cited the arrest on Friday of a Turkish man and his American girlfriend for allegedly plotting an attack in Germany on September 11th this year, to coincide with the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States, as an example of the need for tougher deportation rules.
The chancellor far outscores Mr Stoiber in popularity polls but his Social Democrats party are running nearly level with the conservative Christian Union alliance at about 38 per cent.
Mr Schröder has been able to boost his party after months of trailing in the polls, and the race still appeared wide open following the candidates' final direct clash. - (AFP)