For new start, Schroeder engineers own defeat

However, critics who see Schroeder’s confidence vote as a political trick said they would ask Germany’s highest court to block early elections, which opinion polls suggest the SPD would lose to the Christian Democrats, led by Angela Merkel.

The 601-strong lower house voted 296-151 against the government, with 148 abstentions, Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse announced after a highly-charged two-hour debate, characterised by fierce partisan attacks.

Of the abstentions, 140 were members of Schroeder’s SPD acting on party instructions, with the remaining eight from their coalition partners, the Greens.

Schroeder (61) had called on Parliament in a speech to open the way for new elections, saying his government needed a mandate to continue its economic reform drive. He said he lacked the necessary support in Parliament and faced opposition even in his own party.

‘‘If we are to continue with this agenda, a mandate through new elections is needed,’’ a grim Schroeder said. ‘‘We need clarity. That is why I am putting the motion of confidence.’’

However, for the vote to take place as planned on September 18, constitutional hurdles need to be cleared.

President Horst Koehler, the only person with the power to dissolve Parliament, must first decide whether Schroeder’s unusual scheme to deliberately lose the confidence vote conforms with the constitution. Schroeder went to the President’s office after the vote on Friday to ask him in person to endorse his election plan.

Koehler said in a statement after the meeting that he reserved the right to use the full 21 days allowed him to decide. He said the Schroeder plan raised ‘‘complex’’ constitutional issues.

Koehler will be taking his decision in the knowledge that an overwhelming majority of Germans, the country’s main parties and financial markets support early elections.

There is also a precedent. In 1982, former Chancellor Helmut Kohl deliberately lost a confidence vote to bolster his Parliamentary majority—a move upheld by the Constitutional Court, albeit with reservations.

But, even if Koehler does say yes, the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe will have the final say because it must rule on at least one legal complaint.

Calling the confidence vote an ‘‘absurdity’’, Greens party member Werner Schulz announced he would file a suit if Koehler cleared the way for an early election.

Schroeder, chancellor for the past seven years, shocked the nation on May 22 when he announced plans to bring the federal election forward by a full year, following defeat in the SPD heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Voter discontent stems from record high unemployment and government pro-market reforms which critics say harm the ‘‘social market economy’’, with its generous welfare net, that has been one of the pillars of German post-war democracy.

If the election goes ahead, Schroeder faces a daunting challenge, with opinion polls putting his SPD 17-21 points behind Merkel’s conservatives. —Reuters