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Federal President Köhler Dissolves Parliament and Schedules Elections
Federal President Horst Köhler has dissolved the parliament, thus agreeing
to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's request, and scheduled early parliamentary
elections for September 18. Chancellor Schröder welcomed President Köhler's decision and said he would run for office based on his conviction that the reforms he has introduced are right and necessary. "In the course of the next few weeks I will be doing everything I can to convince voters to give me a mandate to continue the policy of reform I have begun and to pursue this policy with determination and, at the same time, with reason, careful judgement, and a sense of social responsibility," Schröder said in a statement televised after Köhler's announcement. The president of the German parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, said President Köhler deserved respect for his decision to dissolve the parliament. On July 1, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had lost a vote of confidence
in the parliament and then asked Köhler to dissolve the parliament under
Article 68 of the German constitution. Now, under Article 39 of the constitution,
early elections must be held within 60 days. However, one member of parliament
has now filed a complaint against the dissolution of the Bundestag with
the Federal Constitutional Court, and another member says he also plans
to file a separate complaint with the court. Also, several smaller political
parties have filed complaints with the Federal Constitutional Court, arguing
that the short timespan until elections is not sufficient. Links
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