Berlin: The party that defeated outgoing German Chancellor Angela MerkelThe bloc pushed for a quick deal on a coalition government on Monday, but Europe’s biggest economy could still be in weeks of uncertainty after the election failed to set a clear direction. olafi scholz, the candidate for the centre-left Social Democrats, called on Merkel’s centre-right union bloc to go into the opposition after seeing its worst election result. Both received less than 30% of the vote, and it appeared that the keys to power lay in the hands of two opposition parties.
Germany’s oldest party, the SPD, won 25.7% of the vote, a five percentage point increase from the 2017 federal election, ahead of Merkel. CDU / CSU Conservative block at 24.1%, provisional results show. Kingmaker, the Greens came in with 14.8% and the FDP won 11.5%. It would likely take at least three parties to form a government and both the Social Democrats and the CDU/CSU were planning to negotiate to do so. Scholz said he hopes to agree an alliance “if possible” before Christmas. However, his conservative rival, 60-year-old Armin Lashet, said he could try to force the CDU/CSU bloc to form a government despite its worst national election result.
Germany’s oldest party, the SPD, won 25.7% of the vote, a five percentage point increase from the 2017 federal election, ahead of Merkel. CDU / CSU Conservative block at 24.1%, provisional results show. Kingmaker, the Greens came in with 14.8% and the FDP won 11.5%. It would likely take at least three parties to form a government and both the Social Democrats and the CDU/CSU were planning to negotiate to do so. Scholz said he hopes to agree an alliance “if possible” before Christmas. However, his conservative rival, 60-year-old Armin Lashet, said he could try to force the CDU/CSU bloc to form a government despite its worst national election result.
Scholz brushed off concerns that protracted bargaining and a new, multi-party government would mean an unstable leadership. “Germany has always had coalition governments, and it was always stable,” he said. If Scholz succeeds in forming the coalition, the former mayor of Hamburg will be only the fourth SPD chancellor since WWII and the first since Merkel took office in 2005. Merkel’s outgoing government will remain in office until a successor is sworn in, a process that could take weeks or even months.
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