Main political parties in Germany have begun talks with their smaller counterparts in a bid to form a coalition to the next government.
Social Democrats, SPD, who won the largest votes last week, and Christian Democrats, CDU/CSU, on Sunday commenced negotiations with a pair of other parties.
They will be looking to see which can form a three-way coalition to lead Germany for the next legislative term.
The meetings come a week after an election that saw the Social Democrats (SPD) emerge victoriously and the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) suffer its worst-ever result.
Although the SPD won the largest vote share, each of the two parties can, in principle, only lead a coalition with the support of the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business FDP.
This is a necessary prerequisite to achieving a majority in parliament.
Representatives of the SPD will engage in bilateral talks with the Greens and the FDP, respectively, on Sunday.
The CDU/CSU conservative bloc is scheduled to have talks with the FDP, with which it has governed in the past, later on Sunday.
The two smaller parties, which have very different political agendas, already had talks on Friday and have signalled an ability to reach some form of consensus in a larger coalition.
(dpa/NAN)
