GERMANY POLITICS

FILE -- The file photo dated Oct. 13, 2001 shows Bavarian Governor Edmund Stoiber during the party convention of the Christian Socialist Union (CSU) party in Nuremberg, southern Germany. 68 percent of German voters would prefer Stoiber as the challenger of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the federal elections in 2002, according to an oppinion poll published in the German weekly newspaper 'Die Woche' on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2002. (AP Photo/Diether Endlicher)