German conservative leader faces rebellion after election trouncing

'AKKATASTROPHE'

"People don't want ideological trenches and that's why the Linke and CDU should be able to hold talks," he told the Handelsblatt business daily.

He added that the CDU should not block the will of the people. A poll published after the election in Thuringia on Sunday showed that more than 70% of CDU voters in the eastern state want their party to join a Linke-led coalition.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK, has been weakened by gaffes and a perception among voters and a large section of the CDU that she is a continuation of Merkel's centrist path.

Her authority has been further eroded by her failure to revive the conservatives' fortunes at the ballot box. The party suffered painful losses at the European Parliament elections in May and three elections in eastern German regions.

The election in Thuringia exposed deep polarisation among German voters. The Linke and AfD together won more than half of the vote, leaving the CDU, the centre-left SPD, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats with no majority.

Mass-selling Bild newspaper blamed this polarisation on Merkel's and Kramp-Karrenbauer's centrist political path, which makes it difficult for voters to distinguish between the mainstream parties and pushes them to extremes.

"Merkel's strategy of absolute open-mindedness for the sake of colourful coalitions as well as her tactic of adopting policies from the Greens and the Social Democrats has failed," Bild wrote.

"Angela Merkel and CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer could share a prize for causing the (voter) exodus that brought us here. AKKatastrophe!"