Schröder could stay as chancellor until poll in new year

The chances of Angela Merkel becoming Germany's next chancellor suffered a setback yesterday when the Greens appeared to rule out joining a coalition with her conservative CDU party.

But the Social Democrats' chairman, Franz Müntefering, said Mr Schröder would carry on as chancellor and was himself leading coalition talks. "It is clear that Germans do not want Mrs Merkel as their chancellor," he said. "We want to rule with Mr Schröder as chancellor and implement much of that which we have undertaken to do." With the Free Democrats (FDP) apparently ruling out any alliance with Mr Schröder, the only viable coalition appeared to be one between Mrs Merkel's CDU, the FDP and the Greens - a so-called Jamaican coalition because the parties' black, yellow and green colours resemble the Jamaican flag


I sure do hope so, the last thing this world needs are more right wingers is power. I would think the Germans would know better through their own history and by watching the US.