Man walks past election campaign posters of German Chancellor Schroeder of the SPD and Merkel of the CDU in Berlin. A man walks past election campaign posters of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (L) of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and his conservative challenger Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin September 8, 2005. Germany's elections will be held on September 18, one year ahead of schedule, after the country's highest court ruled the early vote engineered by Schroeder legal. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann