WRAP Schroeder on victory, Stoiber concedes defeat, vox pops

(29 Sep 2002) POOL Berlin 1. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder outside surrounded by press 2. SOUNDBITE: (German) Gerhard Schroeder, German Chancellor "Despite being tired I feel very good as you can imagine." Qu:" And when will things start?" "It will start straight away, already today. We will not be able to have a break, because we have difficult and important decisions ahead of us in Europe and beyond. We will start coalition talks in a small group." APTN Berlin 3. Schroeder walking onto podium in SPD headquarters 4. Various of Schroeder speaking 5. Various of press 6. Schroeder leaving stage Munich 3. Press waiting for Edmund Stoiber 4. SOUNDBITE: (German) Edmund Stoiber, Premier of Bavaria "The way the things stand now the SPD has a large enough majority, this is a small majority, but they should govern with this. We will be a constructive opposition and I will take my influence as leader of the party, who with nine percent contributed to the final result of CDU and CSU. I will use my weight and the position of the CSU in Berlin." 5. Stoiber going into building Berlin 6. Various of train station 7. Medium shot of newspaper shop in station 8. Close up newspaper headlines reading "Gerhard is still on", "It's a shaky victory" and "Fisher wins for Schroeder" 9. Man reading the paper 10. SOUNDBITE: (German) Vox pop "I am relieved that Schroder is staying chancellor, I don't think think Stoiber has any real profile, so I am really relieved." 11. SOUNDBITE: (German) Vox pop "Well it was a neck-and-neck race, but I think it is OK that the CSU did not take over." 12.SOUNDBITE: (German) Vox pop "I am happy. I wanted this coalition and I think this is the lesser evil." 13. People in paper show 14. Wideshot of German parliament the Bundestag STORYLINE: Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats won one of Germany's closest postwar elections on Monday. Schroeder secured another four years for his coalition with the small Greens party in Sunday's vote, handing Europe's dwindling left another boost a week after the Social Democrats triumphed in Sweden. As his challenger the Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber conceded defeat, Schroeder stressed that coalition talks with the Green party would start straight away. Most newspapers point out that the victory was tight and some even go as far as to say that the chancellor could not have won without his popular Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of the Greens. But Schroeder looks set to face tougher opposition at home, as well as the difficult task of rebuilding ties with the United States after a campaign that angered Washington. The chancellor will have to tackle problems such as chronic unemployment and slow economic growth and confront strains in the country's generous welfare state with a slender majority that opponents say will not hold. Official results released early Monday showed the Social Democrats and Greens won a combined 47.1 percent of the vote for the lower house, or Bundestag. Opposition parties led by resurgent conservatives under Edmund Stoiber totaled 45.9 percent. That gave the Social Democrats and Greens 306 seats in the new 603-seat parliament, compared to 295 for conservatives and the pro-business Free Democrats. Reformed communists won the other two seats. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...