By Xinhua
Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out on Monday the possibility of seeking early federal elections despite mounting pressure after recent setbacks in locale lections.
“We will not speculate with any thoughts of new elections, because we do not want to play games at the expense of voters,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin.
Merkel has been under pressure as her party suffered setbacks in the recent regional elections which analysts attributed partly to the growing public disgruntlement for the ruling “grand coalition, “the outcome of an indecisive election in 2005.
Merkel accused her coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party of breaking promises made during the cabinet forming negotiations over issues including nuclear power and the lowest legal payment.
Still, she pledged to “continue the work of the grand coalition.”
Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union lost its absolute majority in the Hamburg state elections on Sunday, a new setback for the party in the run-up to the federal elections next year.
According to the exit polls, Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union won 42.5 percent of the vote, down from 47 percent four years ago.
In January, Merkel’s party lost its decade-long absolute majority in the state of Hesse, home to the German financial capital of Frankfurt, dealing her one of the heaviest blows since she came to power in 2005.