Opinion polls gave a nine-percentage-point lead to Merkel. (Reuters)

BERLIN , September 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Germans voted Sunday, September 18, in close-fought snap elections expected to make Angela Merkel the country's first woman chancellor.

The vote followed a brief but intense campaign, launched after Schroeder forced through elections one year ahead of schedule in search of a fresh mandate for economic reforms, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Instead he risks being punished for the poor health of Europe 's biggest economy, with opinion polls giving a nine-percentage-point lead to Merkel's Christian Democrats over Schroeder's Social Democrats.

But with many of the country's 62 million voters undecided on the eve of the vote, it was unclear if Merkel could muster enough support to form the center-right coalition she says is needed to push through deep reforms of Germany's ailing economy.

“I was very confused over how to vote. It's never been so hard to decide,” Bettina Quentin, 39, a health worker casting her vote at a school in the east of Berlin , told Reuters.

Polls opened across the country at 8:00 a.m. (O6:00 GMT) and were due to close at 16:00 GMT.

Schroeder and Merkel voted respectively in Hanover and Berlin Sunday but neither made any statement.

A provisional result is expected in the early hours of Monday, September 19, but if it is close, a final decision could depend on one district in the eastern city of Dresden where polling has been delayed until Oct. 2 because of the death of a candidate.

“Fresh Start”

The 51-year-old pastor's daughter who grew up in communist East Germany has promised voters “a fresh start” and has focused on the current government's failure to curb unemployment, standing at 11.4 percent.

She has pledged to slash the jobless rate with a program of income tax cuts and labor market liberalization that would go beyond Schroeder's economic reform package.

“We need change so that Germany can get back on its feet,” said Ursula Becker, a 79 year-old pensioner casting her vote in the Sachsenhausen district of Frankfurt.

A poll by the Allensbach institute published in Saturday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung showed the Christian Democrats with 41.5 percent and the Free Democrats with eight percent -- barely enough to form a government.

If Merkel cannot form the ruling alliance she wants, she will probably be forced to share power with Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) in a "grand coalition" markets fear could stall reforms Schroeder himself began and Merkel wants to accelerate.

Die-Hard

Schroeder has shown in recent weeks that he will not go without a fight. (Reuters)

Schroeder has shown in recent weeks that he will not go without a fight, putting in extra campaign outings and halving the initial double-digit gap between his party and Merkel's.

He told Sunday's Bild newspaper that the race was far from over, saying he placed his trust in his supporters and not in opinion polls.

"Nothing has been decided and much is at stake," he said.

Schroeder has ruled out participating in such a coalition government with Merkel and would likely retire from politics after seven years as chancellor.

In Berlin , some said Sunday they wanted to give the charismatic chancellor one more chance.

"I am going to vote for the Social Democrats again because I think they had too little time to implement reforms. We should give them a chance to carry on," said Juliane Fischer, a 28-year-old nurse, voting in the working class district of Hellensdorf.

Schroeder could also hope for the Turkish vote Merkel has discounted by opposing Ankara 's bid to lead the mainly Muslim country into the EU.

The chancellor has also reminded supporters of his foreign policy record, which includes refusing to bow to US pressure to send troops to Iraq .

In Frankfurt Saturday he told some 18,000 backers he would prove all the opinion polls wrong.

"Don't worry about my future," he said. "My future is to remain chancellor."