German election favorite urges quick coalition talks

BERLIN

Germany's conservative opposition leader, the favourite to be the next chancellor, said on Feb. 8 that a new government should be in place within two months of federal elections on Feb. 23.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz told the Funke media group he hoped a new coalition could be formed "by Easter", were he and his party to come first in the poll.

The goal was "ambitious", Merz said, with Easter Sunday falling on April 20, exactly eight weeks after Germans go to vote.

"We need to make a few decisions by the summer break at the latest," he said to explain the hurry, referring to decisions that were important for business.

Merz's CDU and its sister party, the Bavarian CSU, are leading in opinion polls, with a joint share of the vote of around 30 percent.

The conservative alliance is ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is polling at around 21 percent on average.

The center-left Social Democrats, led by current chancellor Olaf Scholz, are in third place on some 16 percent of the vote.

If the polls were borne out, Merz and the conservatives would be in prime position to lead the next government.

Germany has been in political limbo since Scholz's three-way coalition with the Greens and the pro-business FDP collapsed in November.

Forming a new government after elections has proven to be an arduous process in the past in Germany.

Parties take time to thrash out coalition agreements that can go into significant detail.

Scholz's coalition needed 10 weeks from polling day to come together.

The previous government, led by conservative Angela Merkel with the support of the Social Democrats, took a full six months to be agreed.