Merkel in final push to avert another polls
Chancellor Angela Merkel will make a last push yesterday to forge a government, in a twin battle to save her political future and avert fresh elections that could destabilise Germany and Europe.
Elections in September had left the veteran leader weakened and without a majority as some of her party's voters turned to the far-right AfD because of anger over her liberal refugee policy.
The disputed decision to let in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015 is also proving to be a stumbling block as she seeks an alliance with an unlikely group of parties spanning the left and right of the political spectrum.
Merkel's conservative CDU party and its Bavarian allies the CSU, hoping to find common ground with the pro-business FDP and the Greens, have given themselves until Sunday to clinch a deal.
If they do not, Germany would have to hold new elections in 2018, as the centre-left Social Democratic Party has ruled out returning to a coalition with Merkel after suffering a humiliating loss at September's elections.
"Today is the last day of these exploratory talks. We must decide," CSU chief Horst Seehofer said as he entered into talks Sunday.
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