The SPD may deal the final blow to Angela Merkel’s chancellorship

In the state elections held in Hesse on 28 October, Angela Merkel’s CDU and her grand coalition partner in the German government – the SPD – suffered heavy losses. Merkel later announced that she would not stand for party leader at the CDU conference in December and would not put herself forward as a candidate for chancellor at Germany’s next federal elections. John Ryan notes that while Merkel is looking to orchestrate her political exit, the crisis-ridden SPD may deal the final blow by pulling out of the grand coalition and triggering a national election.