German Election: Months long coalition talks fail clouding possibility of Merkel’s fourth term as Chancellor

After months-long negotiations, the tri-party coalition talks involving incumbent German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with her sister Party Christian Social Union (CSU), pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), and Greens failed to produce any stable government and now, the abrupt exit of FDP from the coalition talks have pushed Germany to an uncertain political territory and clouded German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s future as the leader of Germany. The setback may see Germany hold new elections, challenging Merkel’s all but secured chancellorship.

The chances for a favorable outcome got crushed after the FDP slammed the door on exploratory talks late Sunday, with its chairman, Christian Lindner, saying that the party would rather not be in the government than agree with the terms of the proposed coalition accord. Mr. Linder said that the parties failed to reach a common vision for the modernization of the country and have no basis for trust. He added, “It is better not to govern than to govern badly”.

Several persons familiar with the coalition talks added that immigration has been a major point of discord. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she regrets the FDP’s decision and said she would notify the German federal president of the failure to form a coalition on Monday. Her former coalition partner and the main opposition SPD (Social Democrats) said that they would not review their decision to not join Merkel in forming a governing coalition.