Merkel seeks party backing after German election stalemate
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-20 15:42

Angela Merkel, still hoping to become Germany's first woman chancellor despite an inconclusive general election, was to ask her party for fresh backing before talks to form a governing coalition, AFP reported.

Germany was thrown into turmoil after Sunday's vote failed to produce a clear winner and left Merkel and current Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder both claiming they should lead Europe's biggest economy.

The political stalemate launched what is essentially a race to see which candidate can build a stable alliance first.

Merkel's opposition Christian Democrats eked out a narrow victory over Schroeder's Social Democrats but the chancellor refused to concede.

The failure to secure a ruling majority was seen by the press as leaving Merkel vulnerable to attack from within her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

In an indication of her weakened position, Merkel said she would ask the CDU to re-elect her as parliamentary group leader on Tuesday.

Merkel was forced to remind Schroeder she had actually won the election, albeit without a governable majority with her preferred junior coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats.

"That is a clear mandate to govern," she said on Monday. "The election campaign is over, the voters have had their say and we are the strongest party in parliament."

Angela Merkel, head of the Christian Democrats party (CDU) smiles during a press conference at her party's headquarters in Berlin. [AFP]

Schroeder forced through the election 12 months early in an attempt to obtain a fresh mandate for his controversial economic reforms.

But German analysts said the ambivalent result showed that voters believed the country needed reform but were unwilling to shoulder the sacrifices that might accompany it.

The lack of a new government has fed political uncertainty in a country struggling with 11.4 percent unemployment, a swelling public deficit and stagnant economic growth.

Party officials have already begun sounding out possible partners in a bid to form a government.

Merkel said she planned to speak to all political parties about a coalition, except the Left Party, a mix of disgruntled Social Democrats and ex-communists.

The Social Democrats also excluded talks with the Left Party and said they had sent invitations for talks to the conservatives and the Free Democrats.

European partners looked on with concern as the euro slumped, and urged the German parties to find a solution to the standoff quickly.

"Without a dynamic Germany, Europe cannot recover," EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said.

Merkel, a 51-year-old from communist East Germany, had been tipped to win the election.

But provisional official results gave the Christian Democrats 35.2 percent, one of their worst scores since World War II, and only narrowly ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD) at 34.3 percent.

The Free Democrats scored a surprisingly strong 9.8 percent, but not enough for Merkel to form the center-right majority she said she needed to rejuvenate the economy and help 4.7 million jobless back to work.

The Greens, partners in the current ruling coalition, tallied 8.1 percent -- too little to save the government in its current form.

But the Social Democrats' dramatic comeback after weeks trailing badly in the polls prompted the charismatic Schroeder, 61, to stake a claim for a third term as chancellor.

The audacious move was starting to look more plausible as it became clear that Merkel would also have a tough time finding viable partners.

Three main options emerged as parties weighed their options.

- An unwieldy left-right "grand coalition" grouping Social Democrats and Christian Democrats -- a choice Merkel had labeled as a recipe for gridlock.

- A center-left alliance bringing together the Social Democrats, Greens and the Free Democrats, known as the "traffic light coalition" for the party colors red, yellow and green.

- A left-center-right alliance linking up the Christian Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Greens. Wags have dubbed this the "Jamaica coalition" as its party colors would match the Caribbean country's flag.

Although a grand coalition initially looked the most likely, Schroeder said his Social Democrats would flatly refuse to join a government under Merkel.

The bold step was viewed as an invitation to the conservatives to dump the weakened Merkel.

As for the second option, Free Democrats leader Guido Westerwelle refused even to speak with the SPD, saying he preferred to be in opposition than to forge an alliance with a "failed" party.

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