BAVARIAN STATE PREMIER EDMUND STOIBER SALUTES WITH A BAVARIAN WHEAT BEER IN MUNICH, 2003-09-21 (photo)

Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber salutes with a glass of bavarian wheat beer during the traditional Oktoberfest costumes parade in Munich September 21, 2003. In today's state elections more than nine million people are eligible to vote in this rich Alpine state, where the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) has held an absolute majority for more than four decades. Voting started on Sunday in which Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats are set to suffer their third landslide election defeat this year. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay REUTERS WR/JOH/thi