BERLIN - Conservative challenger Angela Merkel's party won the most votes in German elections Sunday but fell short of a clear mandate to govern, according to official results. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder staged a dramatic comeback and proclaimed that he should head the next government.
The inconclusive result made it likely that Germany's next government would be weakened because of the narrow vote margin and difficulties in forming a coalition.
If Merkel is to become Germany's first female chancellor, she now must find a majority in a coalition that would likely force her to water down finance reform plans. And such a deal might also lead to a dampening of her strong opposition to Turkish membership of the European Union.
The vote centered on different visions of Germany's role in the world and how to fix its sputtering economy. Schroeder touted the country's role as a European leader and counterbalance to America, while Merkel pledged to reform the economy and strengthen relations with Washington.
With 298 of 299 districts declaring, the results showed Merkel's Christian Democrats party leading with 35.2 percent of the vote compared with 34.3 percent for Schroeder's Social Democrats. Voting in the final district, Dresden, was delayed until Oct. 2 because of the death of a candidate. But that outcome was not expected to affect the final result.
The outcome gave Merkel's party 225 seats, three more than the Social Democrats; the Free Democrats got 61, the Left Party 54 and the Greens 51.
Merkel's preferred coalition partner - the probusiness Free Democrats - had 9.8 percent, leaving such an alliance short of outright victory.
The Greens, the Social Democrats' current governing partner, had 8.1 percent; together, the two parties failed to reach a majority, heralding the end of Schroeder's 7-year-old government.
The Left Party had 8.7 percent of the vote, but Schroeder said he would not work with them. The overall election turnout was 77.7 percent.
The result was a major setback for Merkel, whose party was at 42 percent in polls the week before the election.
She smiled but twisted her fingers in apparent agitation as she argued that she had a mandate to be the next leader after exit polls showed the race almost neck and neck. "What is important now is to form a stable government for the people in Germany, and we ... quite clearly have the mandate to do that," Merkel said.
In contrast, Schroeder was exuberant and branded the performance of Merkel's party "disastrous."
"I do not understand how the (Christian Democratic) Union, which started off so confidently and arrogantly, takes a claim to political leadership from a disastrous election result," Schroeder said, adding defiantly that he could foresee four years of stable government "under my leadership."
Both Merkel and Schroeder said they would talk to all parties except the new Left Party, a combination of ex-communists and renegade Social Democrats.
One leading possibility for Merkel: a linkup between her Christian Democrats and Schroeder's Social Democrats, viewed by some as a recipe for paralysis in a country plagued by 11.4 percent unemployment.
The unclear result opened a scramble among the parties to see who could come up with a majority.
Schroeder, written off as a lame duck a few weeks ago, refused to concede defeat, saying he could still theoretically remain in power if talks with other parties were successful.
If the new Parliament cannot elect a chancellor in three attempts, President Horst Koehler could appoint a minority government led by the candidate with a simple majority.
