Chancellor or bust: Germany's Laschet fights for his political life after conservative defeat

Conservative chancellor candidate Armin Laschet won some time in a fight for his political future on Tuesday as lawmakers in his CDU/CSU alliance met to decide what to do after their electoral defeat.

Conservative chancellor candidate Armin Laschet won some time in a fight for his political future on Tuesday as lawmakers in his CDU/CSU alliance met to decide what to do after suffering their first national election defeat since 2002.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) narrowly beat the conservatives in Sunday's election, leaving Laschet, 60, to try to form a ruling coalition with the Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP) or else see his political career collapse.