A court spokesperson confirmed a report on the online edition of the newsmagazine Der Spiegel that the court's decision on the constitutionality of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's actions regarding the elections will be announced on August 22 at the earliest. The spokesman said there will not be a ruling either this week or next.

At the heart of the issue is the question of whether Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's vote of confidence on July 1, which he lost, was in accordance with the country's constitutional law.

Although it was originally thought that the Constitutional Court would announce its ruling toward the end of August, there had been speculation that a decision could be released earlier than expected after the court's vice-president, Winfried Hassemer, said after closing arguments: "Careful, this could go quickly."

Loss of confidence vote "faked"

The court in Karlsruhe heard arguments from two parliamentarians, Werner Schulz of the Green party and Jelena Hoffmann of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Both consider President Horst Köhler's decision on July 21 to dissolve the German parliament and pave the way for early elections on Sept. 18 unconstitutional. According to Hoffmann, Schröder's deliberate loss of the confidence vote was "faked." Green MEP Schulz (photo) has said that he considers Schröder's orchestrated confidence vote a sham.

According to them, early elections can only take place if the chancellor can no longer rely on his coalition to support him -- something they say is not true. Therefore, his call for a vote of confidence based on a lack of support is invalid.

Hoffmann and Schulz's appeal is not without precedent. In 1983, similar appeals were made when then chancellor Helmut Kohl lost a vote of confidence in parliament, thus triggering early elections. At that time, the judges in Karlsruhe rejected the claims of parliamentarians belonging to the free-market, liberal Free Democrats.

On Tuesday, the two laid out their arguments at the constitutional court. Hans-Peter Schneider, legal counsel for Hoffmann, reiterated this week that Schröder's government did not face a crisis grave enough to merit an early dissolution of parliament through a vote of confidence.

"The present governing coalition has been ruling unchallenged with a relatively narrow majority for the past three years," he said. "There have always been difficulties, but they are, so to say, normal."

Politicians: stopping polls a disaster

Even as the court began hearings, political representatives have warned that stopping the planned early elections, campaigning for which has begun in earnest, will be disastrous.

Wolfgang Thierse, president of the German parliament and SPD member said that a 'no' for the planned polls on Sept 18 would be a "surprise." In an interview on German public radio, Thierse said that the judges in Karlsruhe would naturally rule independently "but not in a vacuum, rather in line with the constitution."

Leader of the Green parliamentary group, Volker Beck, told business daily Handelsblatt that putting the brakes on the planned elections "would be a problem for the image of politics among the population."

But after the short argumentation phase before the Constitutional Court, Federal Interior Minister Otto Schily has said he is confident that the judges will end up clearing the way for early elections.