Germany: Germany's outgoing foreign minister Joschka Fischer has announced he is standing down from the Green Party front bench if the party lands in opposition.
The announcement sent Berlin's post-election coalition rumour mill into overdrive, particularly as Mr Fischer said it was unlikely the Greens would play a role in a new government.
"I am not seeking any leading position, and the new leadership of the party has my full support," said an emotional Mr Fischer, the Green parliamentary leader and party boss in all but name. He has already ruled out serving as minister in a government led by Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Angela Merkel.
But some observers suggested that Mr Fischer's departure could allow his Green Party successors to open the door to a coalition with the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats, who failed to attract enough support in Sunday's election for a two-party coalition.
Dr Merkel was re-elected almost unanimously as CDU parliamentary leader yesterday in a symbolic vote designed to strengthen the weakened leader and the party ahead of tough coalition talks.
"The motto at the moment is wait and see, but everyone in the party knows that Merkel is to blame," said one CDU politician yesterday of the party's 35 per cent result, six points behind expectations.
Coalition talks begin this morning in Berlin and a pact with the FDP and Greens is seen as the only likely way Dr Merkel can save herself and serve as chancellor. "If she fails, then the knives come out," said the CDU politician.
The next option for the CDU then would be a grand coalition with the SPD and without Dr Merkel. SPD leader Franz Müntefering has said his party would only enter a coalition under the leadership of Chancellor Schröder.
However, Berlin mayor and state premier Klaus Wowereit said yesterday that the party would be prepared to enter a grand coalition with the CDU without Mr Schröder, "under certain circumstances, but these circumstances aren't in place yet".
An SPD source said yesterday that dropping Mr Schröder was out of the question.
"Our current position is about taking out Merkel, not about Mr Schröder clinging to power," said the source. "The rank and file would never let Müntefering say, 'Great election, Gerd, now go.'"
The CDU state premier of Saxony, Georg Milbradt, suggested a CDU-FDP minority government might emerge from coalition talks, "even if it's not a situation we should be aiming for".
"Essentially it depends on the president. He has to accept whether a chancellor is accepted with a simple majority. Otherwise there'll be new elections," he said.
President Horst Köhler agreed to dissolve parliament a year early after Chancellor Schröder argued that internal party revolt over his reforms meant he could not be sure of his parliamentary majority.
Mr Köhler urged political leaders yesterday to reach a swift agreement, but he would have difficulty agreeing to any new government that appeared to be even less stable than the last.
Some political observers have suggested the SPD's long-term goal is to let coalition talks collapse and then push for new elections.
Chancellor Schröder started the election campaign 20 points behind the CDU and ended just one point behind, they argue, making the closing of that gap a tantalising prospect.
"Schröder's goal is new elections because he's set the bar so high for a new government under his leadership," said Dr Ralf Altenhof, a political scientist at the University of Chemnitz.
"The SPD will let things bubble for a little bit and then call for new elections based on the actual political situation rather than the election results."
An SPD spokesman said new elections were out of the question. "For one thing, we've no money," he said.