A leading member of Germany's leftwing Die Linke party has warned that a grand coalition between Angela Merkel's CDU and the Social Democrats would leave the country with a weak opposition unable to stand up to a powerful government.
Gregor Gysi, writing in the Guardian, says: "Europe will be watching how serious Germany is about democratic principles."
A powerful coalition is looking the most likely outcome of negotiations between the parties, particularly after the SPD's leadership announced on Friday that they would start exploratory discussions with the CDU next week.
Gysi says such a coalition would have 503 out of 630 seats in the Bundestag, leaving only 127 seats for Die Linke and the Greens. This would mean that they could not effectively interrogate or block legislation passed by parliament.
A former member of the East German Communist party, Gysi was a key figure in Die Linke's election campaign. The party gained 8.6% of the vote in last Sunday's general elections, making it the third largest force in the next parliament.
However, the party suffered a 3.3% decline in its share of the vote from the last election, losing 360,000 voters to the newly formed anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), particularly in the east where Die Linke has traditionally been most successful.
In an interview on Friday, Die Linke's party leader, Katja Kipping, has suggested a joint member's vote among all left-of-centre parties on the country's political future. "The cleanest solution would be if all parties left of the centre would ask their base if they preferred red-red-green or a coalition with Merkel," she said.
A coalition between the SPD, the Greens and Die Linke would achieve an overall majority over Merkel's party and its Bavarian sister-party, the CSU, but any coalition with Die Linke is still considered a taboo because of some of its politicians' links to the old communist GDR regime. Both the Social Democrats and the Greens have ruled out such a union for now.
Either way, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the next German government will be formed any time soon. According to a report in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the SPD is also considering a member's vote on the possibility of a grand coalition.
Such a vote would most likely be held before the party's conference in mid-November. Many party members are said to be against a grand coalition since the party suffered from such an arrangement in 2005 – 2009.
In spite of Merkel's triumphant win on Sunday, the onus is on her to coax a reluctant SPD into coalition talks. Tax rises, dual citizenship and the introduction of a minimum wage have been mooted as areas in which the conservatives may make concessions in order to lure the Social Democrats to the negotiation table.
According to a survey by state broadcaster ARD, a grand coalition would be the solution most favoured by German citizens. Forty-eight per cent of those asked would most like to see a coalition between the CDU and the SPD, while only 16% would prefer a red-red-green accord.
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