German election: Rivals scramble to lead next government

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right CDU/CSU in Germany’s election, setting off potentially drawn-out negotiations to form the next government.

Although Merkel’s bloc slumped to its worst-ever result in a national election, its candidate Armin Laschet laid a claim to the chancellery. But SPD candidate Olaf Scholz declared that his party’s razor-thin represented a mandate to rule.

Who becomes chancellor looks likely to depend on whom the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) — parties that traditionally belong to rival ideological camps — decide to join in government.