Leading German conservative confident of coalition

A leading German conservative today said he was confident the country’s two biggest parties would succeed in forming a governing coalition, but he pressed Angela Merkel’s claim to replace Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

A “grand coalition” of Schroeder’s Social Democrats and Merkel’s conservative bloc has emerged as the likeliest new government after Germany’s September 18 election, which denied both leaders a majority for their preferred alliances.