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DUESSELDORF (Germany), May 22: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder proposed an early general election for late this year after his Social Democrats lost control of a key state on Sunday.
Mr Schroeder made his proposal after exit polls showed the Social Democratic Party suffered a heavy defeat in a state election in North Rhine-Westphalia where it had ruled for 39 years.
The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 45 per cent, comfortably ahead of the 37.2 per cent for the SPD, public TV said. The final decision on holding an election would have to be made by the Bundestag lower house of parliament.—AFP
