Germany: centre-left candidate ‘eager to govern with Greens’

Poll declares Olaf Scholz of the SPD victor of all three televised debates before next Sunday's vote

The centre-left frontrunner to replace Angela Merkel emphasised his eagerness to form a government with the Greens in the last TV debate before next Sunday's German elections, as the ecological party's candidate came close to ruling out joining a coalition with the outgoing chancellor's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

A snap poll declared Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to have emerged victorious from three out of three televised debates, with more respondents describing him as the winner of Sunday night's showdown than the CDU's Armin Laschet or the Green party's Annalena Baerbock.