Election fever is gripping Germany, even though Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's plan for an early poll on September 18th could yet fail. One hurdle was cleared on July 21st when Horst Koehler, the federal president, decided to support Mr Schroeder's request, after he had engineered a lost confidence vote, to dissolve the Bundestag, or lower house. But two Bundestag members have filed suit with the Constitutional Court, which will now deliberate on whether to stop the election. Early elections can be held in Germany only if a chancellor shows that lack of steady support in the Bundestag stops him governing. After 20 days of agonising, Mr Koehler concluded that Mr Schroeder had done that. But the president's arguments left constitutional lawyers scratching their heads. "Our future and that of our children is at stake," Mr Koehler said in his televised statement. He spoke of millions of unemployed, critical national and regional budget deficits and an outmoded federal structure. "We're having too few children and we're getting older," he added.
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