But opposition candidate Gerhard Schroeder says the time has come for Kohl to go. In speeches, he cites the record post-war 4.1 million unemployed and the stagnation in economy as signs the Kohl era must end.

It had all seemed like a foregone conclusion in march when the media-savvy Schroeder was named the Social Democratic (SPD) party's candidate, and jumped immediately to 10-percent leads in opinion polls for the national parliamentary poll.

With his relative youth, Schroeder, 54, was a sharp contrast to the lumbering Kohl, 68, who can be hostile to the press, and whose speeches stress his achievements in the past, especially overseeing German re-unification in 1990.

Schroeder said in parliament last week that Kohl had ``spoken for a long time about the past'', but ``you are not fit for the future,Chancellor.''

Still, the polls have narrowed the difference between the two over the summer and now show Kohl, who prides on his political comebacks, behind by only three to six per cent.

Voters also seem more confident in the government, especially when compared with the shadow cabinet presented by Schroeder, Schlinkert said, as there are questions about the competence of some of the SPD's choices.

Also Schroeder differs little from Kohl in foreign policy, although he has been more reticent about the European single currency, the euro, and builds his unemployment solutions around a tax cut and stimulating technological innovation, not unlike Kohl.

But Schroeder, pushed by SPD chairman and hardline Leftist Oskar Lafontaine, has styled himself as a champion of social justice and wants to undo cuts in retirement benefits and sick pay that Kohl says are needed to reduce labour costs.