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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (R) casts his vote during a Bundestag debate at the Reichstag in Berlin 17 October 2003. Schroeder's government faced a series of key votes in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, but the test of strength was delayed by a blunder with the technology. Members gathered twice in the well of the chamber to cast their votes, but deputy speaker Norbert Lammert said the cards had been inadvertently mixed up. The reforms to Germany's social-welfare system, aimed at reducing labour costs by trimming exorbitant levies for welfare, have still to face their biggest test: a later vote in Bundesrat, or upper house, where the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) are in control. EPA/STEPHANIE PILICK