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Germany's Merkel to meet Greens as she seeks coalition to lead
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-23 11:34

Instead of winning 40 percent as predicted, the conservatives took just 35.2 percent to finish less than a percentage point ahead of Schroeder's Social Democrats.

The knife-edge result has sparked a standoff between Schroeder and Merkel as to who should become Germany's next chancellor, and it looks unlikely to be resolved soon.

Both politicians stuck to their guns on Thursday when their parties met for exploratory talks on forming a so-called grand coalition.

It is seen by observers as the most viable way out of the impasse created by the vote but there are fears that the two parties would fail to bury their differences and implement reforms needed to rescue Germany's troubled economy.

Merkel, a 51-year-old former scientist who wants to become Germany's first female leader, said as she emerged from the meeting that "clear differences" remained between the parties' positions.

German Christian Democratic (CDU) Chairwoman Angela Merkel, right, and Bavarian state Governor Edmund Stoiber, leader of the CDU's sister party CSU, deliver statements after their talks with the Social Democrats in Berlin Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005. [AP]

She also reiterated that it was she, and not Schroeder, who had won a mandate to form a government and therefore deserved to head whatever coalition comes out of the next days or weeks of horse-trading.

"I made it clear that I, together with the Christian Democrats, have a mandate to govern," she said.

The president of the Social Democrats, Franz Muentefering, countered: "We made it clear we want to govern with Schroeder as chancellor."

An opinion poll published by the Emnid institute on Thursday showed that Germans would prefer Merkel to be at the head of a grand coalition, with 47 percent backing her and 44 percent Schroeder.

Before her meeting with Schroeder's party, Merkel also held initial discussions with the Free Democrats.

Despite Friday's planned talks, Merkel has already poured cold water on an alliance with the Greens.

The conservatives and the Greens are diametrically opposed on Turkey's bid to join the European Union, on plans to reform Germany's complicated tax system and to phase out the nation's use of nuclear power.

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