Angela Merkel congratulates Olaf Scholz on successful German elections | Germany

[ad_1]

Angela Merkel and his main challenger, Olaf Schulz, congratulated him on his election victory at the weekend as he hopes to forge a coalition that would make him Germany’s next chancellor.

Merkel’s conservative bloc of the CDU and Christian Social Union slipped to its worst result ever in Sunday’s general election with 24.1% of the vote, behind Schulz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) with 25.7%.

The election defeat left the Conservatives in disarray, with leading figures distancing themselves from CDU leader Armin Laschet, who campaigned to replace Merkel and insisted on trying to build a coalition despite his second place finish.

Merkel, who left office after 16 years at the helm of Europe’s largest economy, stayed out of the fray but broke her silence in a statement on Wednesday to reveal that she had congratulated Schulz “on his election success” earlier in the week.

Laschet, who has been criticized in recent days for failing to publicly congratulate his opponent as Germany looks to the prospect of months of coalition wrangling, sent a congratulatory letter to Schulz received on Wednesday, party sources in the SPD and CDU said. .

The SPD was also boosted by a selfie posted to Instagram late Tuesday that showed four prominent members of the Green Party and the pro-business FDP smiling after their initial – and secret – initial talks eyeing a possible alliance.

The two parties – which came in third and fourth in the election – have emerged as the joint kingmakers in the post-Merkel first government, either under the SPD or the Conservatives, but have historically been wary of each other, diverging on key issues such as tax increases, climate protection and spending general.

The caption on the selfie, which went viral, said the Greens and the FJP “were exploring common ground and bridges over divisions. And even find some.”

Both parties are keen to avoid a reboot of the fallout from the 2017 election, when the FDP largely withdrew from talks to form a coalition with the Greens and Conservatives, citing irreconcilable differences.

The Green Party indicated that they are more comfortable governing with the Social Democrats, while the FDP was the junior partner in the coalition in a government led by the Conservatives before.

Kingmaker parties plan to meet again at a more formal venue on Friday.

Schulz himself tweeted that he was “optimistic” about an alliance with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party, which he named the “Traffic Light” coalition after the parties’ colors.

The Greens’ co-leader, Annalina Barbuk, said the first meeting with the SPD will take place on Sunday.

“We have a clear mandate to renew in our country,” she told reporters when asked if the Greens would consider partnering with the conservatives as well.

The LDP, however, has thrown Laschet’s beleaguered lifeline, with Secretary-General Volker Wessing announcing that his party plans to hold talks with the CDU on Saturday, a day before meeting with the SPD.

Wesing said it was “too early” to say which constellation would eventually appear.

Merkel will remain in the caretaker role throughout the alliance.

[ad_2]