The German Elections

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been unable to form a coalition government and wants new elections in Germany.  After the recent elections, Merkel's party held a lead in the German legislature, but it needed a coalition with one or more other parties to form a government.  That effort proved unsuccessful, hence the call for new elections.  If you were to read one of the few opinion pieces in the US media about this event (why cover the German government when you can cover sexual harassment), you would think that democracy in Germany is under assault.  It's not.  In fact, Merkel is just doing what one would expect given the situation.  The Socialists had been in a coalition with Merkel's party for the last four years.  As a result, they suffered in the last round of elections, so they decided not to stay in the government.  The small parties with whom Merkel could form a government had extremely different views from each other, so there was no way to put the entire package together for a coalition.

The call for elections may yet lead to a coalition, but that seems unlikely.  Instead, Germans will head to the polls again to choose a leader.  Most likely, there will be somewhat different results than in the last voting.  Hopefully, there will be enough votes so that a government can be formed.