Germany holds elections on Sunday after its three-party "traffic light" coalition collapsed last year and could soon have a "black-red" government while a "Jamaica" or "blackberry" alliance is less likely.

Confused? Here is a cheat sheet for Germany's colour-coded party politics ahead of the pivotal vote in Europe's most populous country and biggest economy.

Every German party is traditionally associated with a colour, and national flags and other imagery are commonly used as shorthand for possible coalition combinations.

Here are Germany's main parties, their colours, leaders and what they stand for:

The centre-left party of embattled Chancellor Olaf Scholz, 66, is Germany's oldest with origins in a labour association founded in the mid-1800s.

Its key demands are fair wages, safe pensions and social benefits, and its symbol is a red rose.

The SPD prides itself on its principled opposition to the Nazis before it was banned and its members exiled.

Party lore says that dialogue with Moscow, rather than confrontation, helped end the Cold War.

Prominent former SPD chancellors include Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Gerhard Schroeder.

Germany's main conservative party, led by former corporate lawyer Friedrich Merz, 69, prioritises boosting the economy, law and order and traditional........

© International Business Times