``The Kohl era is over after 16 years,'' Schroeder declared before cheering supporters at the Bonn headquarters of his Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The SPD won 41.2 per cent of the votes, according to projections based on partially counted ballots by the ZDF public TV network at 10:33 p.m. (20:33 GMT).

While Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) got 35 per cent of the votes, his current coalition partner, the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP), received 6.2 per cent, according to ZDF.

Conceding defeat, Kohl said, ``We have lost the election. I was candidate and I take responsibility.'' The CDU/CSU's share of the vote crashed by over six percentage points from the last election in 1994.

Announcing his withdrawal from leadership, Kohl said he also planned to step down as CDU party chairman -- a post he hasheld since 1973.

It was unclear whether Kohl planned to retain his seat in parliament. Adding insult to injury, Kohl even lost a direct Bundestag mandate in his home town of Ludwigshafen but he can still return to parliament on the party list for Rhineland-Palatinate state.

The head of Bonn's centre-right government since 1982, Kohl entered history books for having led East and West Germany to the 1990 unification.

Commenting on Kohl's defeat, veteran ZDF public TV election analyst Klaus Bresser said, ``The voters have above all voted against Kohl. They took the decision that he himself should have made.''

There was wild partying at Bonn's SPD headquarters which spilled out into a street festival attended by thousands in the government district.

Schroeder told supporters that his biggest goal was to battle what he termed the "scourge'' of 11 per cent unemployment. He also vowed continuity of the German foreign policy.

``Germany will not become a different republic -- we will instead perhaps justbecome more modern,'' he said, adding his victory was a generation change. Schroeder is 54 years old, and Kohl is 68.

Schroeder vowed his government would build on policies of renewal and reform followed SPD chancellors Willy Brandt (1969-1974) and Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982). He especially thanked Schmidt, who he said had been a close advisor.

Sunday's election was a historic milestone: when Schroeder is formally elected as chancellor by parliament later this month it will mark the first time since the Federal Republic of Germany's creation in 1949 that voters rejected a chancellor in office for an opposition figure.

Kohl remains acting chancellor until Schroeder is elected by the new parliament next month. The date for Schroeder's election in the Bundestag has not yet been set.

The opposition Greens took 6.7 per cent, according to projections.

``This is the day many of us have been working toward for the past 16 years,'' said Green party faction leader Joschka Fischer.

Schroeder, who has said hewants a coalition with the Greens, refused last evening to make a formal offer to the environmental and pacifist Greens for coalition talks. He also noted that a grand coalition government of the SPD with Kohl's party would also be possible in theory.