September 22, 2002	Sunday	Rajab 14, 1423

BERLIN, Sept 21: A row sparked when a German minister allegedly compared the US president’s methods to Adolf Hitler’s overshadowed the final day before Sunday’s election in Germany that promises a photo finish.

Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin has denied a newspaper report she likened George W. Bush’s stance on Iraq to Hitler’s use of foreign policy to hide domestic woes.

Yet she still faces calls to quit and charges from Bush’s national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that US-German relations have been “poisoned”.

It was unclear what impact, if any, the last-minute furore sparked by the report would have on Sunday’s result.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s firm stand against any war in Iraq has benefited his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), but his rival Edmund Stoiber and the conservatives accuse the government of isolating Germany and even threatening exports.

“The Middle East and Iraq need a lot of new peace, but they don’t need a new war,” Schroeder said to cheers from the 5,000-strong crowd in the centre of Rostock.

He said Germany had every right to be self-confident in its international policy given that it had demonstrated its readiness to take part in front-line action for peace.

“Fundamental issues of German policy will be decided in Berlin and nowhere else,” he said. Stoiber attended the opening of Munich’s Oktoberfest beer festival in his role as premier of the rich southern state of Bavaria. “The government has completely isolated Germany through its foreign policy,” he said in criticism of Schroeder’s stance on Iraq.

Dressed in a traditional Bavarian felt jacket, Stoiber arrived to cheers from 6,000 drinkers and took the first litre from Munich’s SPD Mayor Christian Ude. “I hope to come back next year and have a beer poured for me as chancellor,” Stoiber said.

PHOTO FINISH: The latest polls showed the race between the SPD and the main opposition Christian Democrat/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parties was too close to call and a huge postal vote suggested voter turnout would be a post-unification record.

An Allensbach Institute survey showed a mere 0.5 percentage points between the two parties, the SPD on 37.5 percent, the CDU/CSU on 37. A Forsa poll found Schroeder’s SPD would win 38.5 to 39.5 percent. Stoiber’s conservatives had 37 to 38 percent.

The future of Europe’s largest economy will depend on the smaller parties — especially the PDS reformed communists, successors to the party that built the Berlin Wall — that could garner enough votes to stay in parliament.

Whether the Party of Democratic Socialism crosses the five percent threshold could determine whether a combination of the other parties — SPD and Greens or CDU/CSU and liberal Free Democrats — can form a functioning majority.

“POISONED” US RELATIONS: The major parties have spent the final run-up seeking to capitalise on or limit the damage from the SPD justice minister’s alleged remarks.

Schroeder wrote to Bush on Friday saying he regretted any offence the reported comments had caused, although the White House fury appeared undimmed.

Rice said the reported words were unacceptable, even if only half of what was reported was said.

“How can you use the name Hitler and the name of the President of the US in the same sentence? Particularly, how can a German, given the devotion of the US in the liberation of Germany from Hitler? An atmosphere has been created that is in that sense poisoned,” she told London’s Financial Times.

“It’s not been a happy time with Germany. There have clearly been some things said that are way beyond the pale.”

Voting stations open on Sunday at 0600 GMT and close at 1600 GMT, when the first exit poll results will be released.—Reuters