Schröder's SPD floats chancellor job-share plan

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) floated an unprecedented plan yesterday to rotate the top job in a bid to break a political stalemate after last Sunday's inconclusive election.

The head of an influential SPD group said the party's parliamentary deputies favoured a power-sharing plan with the Christian Democrats (CDU) that would let Schröder hold office for two years before handing over to the CDU at mid-term.

Several CDU state leaders dismissed the proposal.

SPD deputy Johannes Kahrs said the job-share plan appeared to be the most promising way out of the logjam after the conservatives edged the SPD but fell short of winning a centre-right majority in a general election last Sunday.

A "grand coalition" between Angela Merkel's CDU, their Christian Social Union sister party and the SPD has emerged as a leading option for the next government after the junior partners of both sides rejected offers for complex three-way coalitions.

Schröder's SPD won 34.3 per cent of the vote, while Merkel's CDU/CSU won 35.2 per cent in the country's most inconclusive post-war election. The chancellor has insisted he won a mandate to continue after coming from far behind in opinion polls.

The CDU/CSU reject that claim, saying they should lead the next government because they won 450,000 more votes and have three seats more than the SPD in the 613-seat parliament.

Small cracks began to appear in the SPD camp even though the party's loyalty to Schröder is high after his strong comeback helped many save jobs that they thought were a lost cause.

Kurt Beck, SPD state premier in Rhineland-Palatinate, appeared to distance himself from Schröder's insistence that a "grand coalition" could only be formed with him as chancellor but also said the SPD would stick with that goal in talks.