German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she favors new elections rather than heading a minority government.
Markel said that she was “very skeptical” about leading a minority government on Monday, after Marathon talks aimed at forming a coalition government in Germany collapsed.
"The path to the formation of a government is proving harder than any of us had wished for," she said during a televised interview.
She also noted that she would not be stepping down as the county’s Chancellor.
The comments were made after Germany’s pro-business Free Democrats Party (FDP) unexpectedly called off more than four weeks of coalition talks with Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the left-leaning Greens after failing to resolve the differences over a range of issues, particularly immigration policies.
The failed coalition talks leave Merkel with three options: To form a minority government, approach her previous coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), or call for new elections.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had earlier called on political parties to resume attempts to a build a governing coalition following a meeting with Merkel.
“I expect the parties to make the formation of a new government possible in the foreseeable future,” he said, adding that the parties had a obligation that “cannot be simply given back to the voters.”