Germany embarks on tricky search for post-Merkel government

Both Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, who pulled his party out of a years-long slump, and Armin Laschet, the candidate of Mrs Merkel’s party who saw his party’s fortunes decline in a troubled campaign, laid a claim to leading the next government

A man rides his bike towards the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (Michael Probst/AP)

Germany is embarking on a potentially lengthy search for its next government after the centre-left Social Democrats narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc in an election that failed to set a clear direction for Europe’s biggest economy under a new leader.

Leaders of the parties in the newly elected parliament were meeting Monday to digest a result that saw Mrs Merkel’s Union bloc slump to its worst result in a national election, and appeared to put the keys to power in the hands of two opposition parties.