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Germany’s Merkel faces tricky task to build government
![FILE: Merkel's partners since 2013 in a “grand coalition” of Germany's traditionally dominant parties, the centre-left Social Democrats, vowed to go into opposition after a heavy defeat. (Photo by WDKrause (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)])](https://canadianinquirer.net/v1/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/01-Besuch_von_US-Präsident_Obama_2016_in_Deutschland_-_Hannover_-_Pressekonferenz_06.jpg)
FILE: Merkel’s partners since 2013 in a “grand coalition” of Germany’s traditionally dominant parties, the centre-left Social Democrats, vowed to go into opposition after a heavy defeat. (Photo by WDKrause (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)])
Sunday’s election in Europe’s biggest economy left Merkel’s conservative Union bloc weakened after a campaign that focused squarely on Germany’s leader of the past 12 years. However, no other party can lead a new government and Merkel herself lacks any obvious internal challenger.
Merkel’s partners since 2013 in a “grand coalition” of Germany’s traditionally dominant parties, the centre-left Social Democrats, vowed to go into opposition after a heavy defeat.
Caucus leader Thomas Oppermann doubled down on that pledge Monday, saying that “we will not conduct coalition talks, because voters have decided that the Social Democrats’ place is in opposition.”
