Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) said on Wednesday they had agreed to start talks on a possible coalition with Friedrich Merz's conservatives but stressed their support was not automatic and hit out at his negotiating style.

Germany's Social Democratic Party faces a lack of leadership following its defeat on February 23, having garnered only 16.5% of the vote, its worst score since 1945.

Germany’s Social Democrats are taking steps to revamp their leadership as a role in a new government beckons, even though Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party slumped to its worst election result since World War II.

Omar Alkadamani, a Syrian-born, naturalised German citizen, used to support Germany's centre-left Social Democrats. Unsettled by its increasingly tough stance on migration, however, he cast his vote on Sunday for the far-left Left Party.

Co-party leader of Germany's left-wing party The Left (Die Linke) Ines Schwerdtner attends a press conference after the German general election in Berlin, Germany February 24, 2025. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Left Party will vote against a special fund for increased military spending in the next legislature,

The shooting star of the 2025 election was undoubtedly the Left Party. shouted Left Party co-leader Jan van Aken to the cheering crowd at the election party in Berlin as the projected election results rolled in.

Germany faces its second change of leader in less than four years after the head of the center-right opposition won Sunday’s election.

Friedrich Merz, the presumptive chancellor of Germany, has confirmed he will seek a coalition with the social democratic SPD after the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) won the February 23 election, topping the poll with 28.

The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the election result a "decisive victory for our political family, for Germany and Europe." The European People's Party, the European Union's largest parliamentary group,