The centre-left and centre-right candidates to replace Angela Merkel as German chancellor have both claimed the right to go ahead after inconclusive election results.
"We have a mandate to say we want to form the next government ... citizens want change," the centre-left SPD party's Olaf Scholz said on Sunday (26 September).
He promised a "good, pragmatic government for Germany".
The SPD narrowly won with 25.9 percent of the vote, according to projections on Monday morning...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.