Social Democratic candidate Olaf Schulz, whose party made a slight advance in Germany's legislative elections, called on Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative allies to join the opposition after they came in second place.

Schultz confirmed at his party headquarters that "the CDU and the Christian Social Union not only lost votes, but received a message from citizens that they should not be in the government but the opposition," and his comments come at a time when conservatives stress their right to form a government coalition as well.

The 63-year-old current deputy chancellor and finance minister added that the voters expressed their choices clearly and "said their word on who should form the next government by strengthening three parties: the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals."

"Our mandate is to do what the citizens want," he said, noting that after 16 years in power, the conservatives in Merkel's party should move to the opposition.

The conservatives suffered the worst electoral defeat, the day before yesterday, Sunday, by obtaining only 24.1% of the vote, down 9 points compared to the legislative elections in 2017. On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party came at the forefront with 25.7% of the vote.


These two parties have ruled the country without interruption since the post-war period, sometimes together in a "grand coalition".

As for the Green Party and the Liberals, they each won 14.8 percent and 11.5 percent of votes in Sunday's elections, respectively.

Because of the large fragmentation of votes, a coalition of 3 parties will be needed to form the new government, which is unprecedented since the 1950s.

In theory, even after they came in second place, the Conservatives retain the possibility of forming an alliance with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party.

While many Greens and Social Democrats have in common, the Liberals have clearly indicated that they prefer an alliance with the Conservatives rather than the center-left.

Negotiations to form a new government may take several weeks, or even months, as a coalition government was not reached in 2017 until February.