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epa03895813 Former SPD Chancellor Candidate Peer Steinbrueck (L) accompoanies the Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentarry group's chairman Frank-Walter Steinmeier (front L), party chairman Sigmar Gabriel (front R), North Rhine-Westphalia state governor Hannelore Kraft (2-R) and Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz (R) as they arrive at the Parliamentary Association in Berlin, Germany, 04 October 2013. Others are not identified. German Chancellor Angela Merkel held exploratory talks with the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD) on building a coalition government. Her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian-based sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) won a general election this month but fell just short of securing an absolute majority in parliament. CDU's coalition allies for the last four years, the Free Democrats, failed to win any parliamentary seats in the election. EPA/MAURIZIO GAMBARINI