Photo Gallery An Outmoded Relationship
German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democratic Union: During the election campaign, the chancellor has stated few political positions, fearing she could risk a re-election victory during the Sept. 27 national vote. With her non-committal campaign, she is driving her team to the brink of self-denial.
Guido Westerwelle, head of the Free Democratic Party: His party used to govern together with the CDU, but today he feels like a jilted lover, often disparagingly referring to Merkel as "Mutti," German for mommy.
To ensure her victory, Merkel has also silenced an outspoken rising star in her government, Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. "I simply want to allow my heart to speak to you directly," he has recently told audiences.
Window cleaners wash the mirrors in the cupola roof of the Reichstag building in Berlin where the federal parliament meets: Right now the CDU, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, and the FDP are at an impasse. If the FDP garners enough votes to enter into a government with the conservatives, the negotiations are expected to be difficult.
The FDP hasn't been a part of a German government coalition since 1998. Pictured here is former CDU Chancellor Helmut Kohl, together with his then-FDP foreign minister, Hans Dietrich Genscher. Rising in polls this summer, the FDP stands a good chance of entering into the next government together with Merkel's conservatives after Sept. 27 elections. But how much do they really have in common?
