After a humbling election defeat for Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats (SPD), the party looked to collect itself on Monday in preparation for a potential new role as the junior partner in a conservative-led government.

With just 16.4 percent of the vote, support for the centre-left Social Democrats was at a record low in Germany's post-war democratic history -- and well behind the conservative CDU/CSU bloc.

The centre-right alliance led by Friedrich Merz topped the polls with 28.5 percent of the vote, and is already eyeing up the SPD as its preferred coalition partner.

Scholz and his allies were still smarting from the result, as senior party figures began positioning themselves for the next government.

"The ball is in Friedrich Merz's court," said SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil at a party press conference.

Germany needed the SPD to "to be able to act quickly and make decisions," said Klingbeil. "The world is turbulent and decisions do not wait."

Another alliance between the two........

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