LONDON — The German election is heading for tough coalition talks and a possible three-way power-sharing agreement in Berlin, after one of the country’s most significant votes in recent years.Preliminary results on Monday morning showed the center-left Social Democratic Party gaining the largest share of the vote with 25.9%, according to the country’s Federal Returning Officer, but falling well short of achieving a majority to govern alone.Angela Merkel’s right-leaning bloc of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union got 24.1% of the vote, according to the early results. Merkel is stepping down after 16 years as chancellor but her conservative alliance, heading toward its worst election result since World War II, could still cling on to power by playing a crucial role in the eventual coalition.The Green Party is expected to get 14.8% of the vote. The liberal Free Democratic Party was seen with 11.5%, while the right-wing Alternative for Germany party was seen with 10.3%. The left-wing Die Linke party was expected to gain 4.9% of the vote.‘We get down to work’After exit polls on Sunday evening, both main candidates for chancellor, the SPD’s Olaf Scholz and the CDU-CSU’s Armin Laschet, immediately claimed a mandate to govern. But coalition negotiations, which could begin on Monday, are likely to take weeks or even months.Commenting after the exit polls, Laschet conceded the result was disappointing and said it posed a “big challenge” for Germany.“We cannot be satisfied with the results of the election,” Laschet told his supporters, according to a Reuters translation.“We will do everything possible to build a conservative-led government because Germans now need a future coalition that modernizes our country,” he said.cnbc.com