With Angela Merkel’s conservatives five seats short of a parliamentary majority, her possible new partners aren’t rushing to join her in a new German coalition government.

Merkel enjoys sky-high popularity but allies in her two previous coalitions have ended up the worse for wear after the experience. Voters kicked her latest partner, the pro-business Free Democrats, out of Parliament altogether in Sunday’s election. She will now need an alliance with one of two center-left rivals — and either will doubtless demand major concessions as the price for taking the risk, with coalition talks likely to drag on for weeks.

The likeliest outcome is a “grand coalition” of Merkel’s Union bloc with the center-left Social Democrats of Peer Steinbrueck. But they emerged badly weakened from a similar alliance in Merkel’s first term. Germans prize stability so it’s in no party’s interest to be seen as obstructing a new government to the point that the country has to hold a new election. But neither the Social Democrats nor the other possible partner, the environmentalist Greens, are natural Merkel allies.

Germany has no tradition of minority governments and Merkel made clear she has no intention of changing that. Still, she will likely be kept waiting to start her third term. In 2005, it took two months before she was sworn in as chancellor of her first grand coalition.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/merkel-triumphs-in-german-election-but-will-need-new-partner-as-coalition-ally-wiped-out/2013/09/22/9e84e856-23e5-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html