German CDU leader rallies party

By Ray Furlong
BBC News, Dortmund

Germans can now choose a new start with us: Angela Merkel

Germany's conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel has told her party that they alone offer the country the chance of economic renewal.

Her Christian Democratic Union party enjoys a strong lead in opinion polls and is tipped to win the election.

The CDU convention in the city of Dortmund was a highly stage-managed affair that was more like a victory party than a pre-election event.

But questions still remain over who Mrs Merkel would form a government with.

The event in Dortmund's Congress Centre was a piece of spectacular showmanship.

An acrobat ascended to the ceiling trailing a giant CDU flag on a wire. There was a laser display and even a Queen revival band before Mrs Merkel's triumphant entrance.

She made her way through a sea of supporters wearing orange t-shirts - a colour the conservatives have adopted for this campaign.

Banners with the single word "Angi" written on them were held aloft.

Coalition question

And in her speech, she gave them plenty more to cheer about.

"The current government has been a catastrophe for the German economy," said Mrs Merkel. "Germans can now choose a new start with us."

Conservative MP Peter Altmaier says the campaign is going well.

"We are really optimistic that more and more people in Germany will realise that a new government is the only chance to overcome the economic and social crisis," he said.

The conservatives cannot be too sure of themselves, though.

The opinion polls suggest that their favoured coalition with the Liberals would just about have a majority in the next Bundestag.

But if it does not, they will be forced to consider a coalition with their arch-rivals, the Social Democrats, instead - a bitter pill after seven years in opposition.