It appears the limp, feckled Schroeder, who could only get votes by bad mouthing Germany’s allies at election time, is being shown the door:

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government was voted out of office Sunday as conservative challenger Angela Merkel’s party led in parliamentary elections, according to an exit poll.

The exit poll from ZDF public television showed Merkel’s Christian Democrats with 37 percent of the vote and Schroeder’s Social Democrats with 33 percent. However, the Christian Democrats’ showing was worse than expected and made it uncertain they would win a majority with their preferred coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, and make Merkel the nation’s first female chancellor.

Welkommen Chancellor Merkel! Was jetzt?

UPDATE:

Captain Ed reminds us to keep our powder dry since the exit polls show a stastical tie – wise words.

UPDATE II:

Aufweidersehen, Herr Schroeder.