In 2017, just 171 days after the last election, it was clear that Merkl would be re elected, but it took months for a new government to emerge. It is not clear who will succeed Merkl after she leaves office, but it is more likely that the cabinet will be formed longer than the last time. Why? At the time, the consensus was that it would be a two-party government, since Germany had been relatively stable over the past few decades, and although the chances of a single party forming a government were relatively small, it was mostly a two-party government.
According to the current polls, the prevailing prediction -- and I think the odds are in my favor -- is that German politics may thus enter an era of three-party rule. What are the three ruling parties? There are all kinds of combinations, for example, the party that MERKL now leads is called the Coalition Party, that is, the two smaller parties, the CDU and the CSU, and now the SPD is also talking about two smaller parties, there is a general feeling among the other smaller parties that the Green Party is more likely, but who is the third party besides a mainstream, traditional party, such as the coalition or the Social Democratic Party, plus the Green Party?