Kate gets we are facing a situation in the history of the federal republic of germany. Which we never had before we know the difficult situation our country is in now. We are not prepared to enter a grand coalition so. We are not afraid of new elections. Also coming up Zimbabwes PresidentRobert Mugabe he survived a military coup last week he ignored a deadline to resign today next up impeachment charges and an attack on his wife and child that. Allowed his wife to use it which has no power which has no right to the government. We begin the day with the most powerful woman in the world weaker than she has ever been at home late last night after four weeks of marathon talks to form a new Coalition Government chancellor im going to marry her was forced to admit failure the free democrats known as the f. D. P. Walked out of the talks saying it just isnt working america had hoped to bring the f. D. P. And the greens together with her conservatives into one government unlikely partners with the unlikeliest of chances of finding Common Ground sources close to the talks say that there were one hundred twenty points of contention still left to iron out or tonights miracle says that she would prefer new elections over ruling with a minority government no doubt she doesnt want to go the way of britains theresa may but new elections are risky as well in September America came out on top again but weaker than in any election before does she still possess an enough Political Capital with the voters to win another round at the ballot box lets hear from the main protagonists of last nights midnight draw. We were being forced to cast away our principles and everything that we fought for over the years. We will not let down our voters by standing behind policies of which were not at all convinced and its its better not to govern than to govern badly so that you. Could buy. A dozen the arms of a few weve seen and heard a lot during the stoics do a very different styles of negotiating. Its letting you know sympathy the greens to some getting used to the free democrats resolute. But we believe that were well on the right path to securing an agreement. I think than there was a german chancellor speaking there for more on what weve been seeing in the last twenty four hours im joined by Thorsten Foss he is a professor at the Free University here in berlin he has written extensively on german elections campaigns polling and voter behavior mr francis good to have you on the day so americal says she would prefer new elections instead of having to deal with ruling with a minority government is that where were headed if were going to have new elections do you think well if we listen to the president today of one question i started my he was quite hesitant to call new elections and he would be in charge or at the end of the day he would be the one to call the new election so he played the ball back to the party said well we had just we have to had an election you Party Leaders you sure youre responsible for forming a new coalition but we have to have to see we havent seen either one of these options both of these options minority government as well as the new election would be extraordinary options for german politics so this is really New Territory that where its boring so well have to wait and see how it turns out we really have no experience for a situations like this what do you think the chance of what the sheep are for new elections i mean two months ago in the last election she came out the winner but she had the weakest results of her political career then why would she want to gamble again. Well if you look at german political culture at the state level but also at the federal level we dont really have a tradition of minority governments we actually have only they have them and where we are very rare instances that the state level we have never had them at the federal level and were used to stability stable governments so what she hopes for is that with going for the option for and new elections she would get another stable coalition this is a risky option where exploring risky territory but with a minority government she would be dependent on a party group in parliament thats not really supporting her we have seen that she cannot count on the liberal these days she can count on the greens these days she can count on the social democrats and using that it is it is really New Territory so thats why she doesnt like this option that would be new its not it doesnt fit to german political culture so were probably headed for new elections although the way there is really not easy to go through its also unprecedented just getting there the fact that merkel could not convince the f. T. P. A junior partner that even that once governed with her conservatives in a Coalition Government the fact that she could not convince him to come into this Coalition Government it tells us something doesnt it and he has miracle has she used up all of for Political Capital well these three are actually four parties they dont really go together where very well theyre very different and we have seen these long lasting talks that have come to an end in the very end but we have to keep in mind the coalition that youre talking about the christian democrats and liberals they were in power from two thousand and nine to two thousand and thirteen and the end for the liberals of course was that they that there were no longer in part and they were not able to pass the the ed across the threshold in the two thousand and thirteen election so christian of the party leader for the liberals hed knows that very well and he was sort of willing to take this risk of getting him while it of entering another government where he would probably he and his party lose this profile were probably just the junior partner. Without being able to to to have success is at the end of the day so he decided at the end of the day it would be better for him and his party that not entering their condition is the better option for which we run out of time as does the me ask you say we do have new elections is that going to be a boom for the alternative for germany this is a far right party it very much depends on the framing of what happened these days if if the frame that that is dominant in the end the end is that the established all parties theyre just playing tricks theyre not really interested in finding solutions that would be a classic populist argument on the other hand of course the presence of the alternative for germany in the bundestag that causes the whole mess that causes all these problems of Coalition Information so maybe voters of the alternative for germany at last time if there is a new election they might reconsider so its really an open question in many respects and all its with respect to the to the fortune and future of the and youre an optimist think you know i think the resurrection for us if we shit your insights tonight on the the day thank you thank you and what does the world think about this political deadlock in europes strongest country will to take the global polls im joined tonight by Jackson James president of the American Institute for contemporary german studies at John Hopkins University in washington and our correspondent barbara vevo joins me from our brussels studio to both of you good evening let me start with you in the halls of power of the European Union miracles name has been synonymous with success and stability is her name tonight a good reason to have a stiff drink. Oh definitely sober and i assume a rather a number of votes goes and shops and rockies and other strong beverages will be lifted tonight just to steady european leaders nerves as you said marco has been a rock of stability for years in the European Union she has weathered all the crises and she has led the European Unions through many of these crisis and now the big question is who will fill a mechelle shaped hole in european politics at the problem also is that europe had just begun to find its feet again to sort of recover from the shock of bricks it had sort of where that the refugee crisis and now is a new confidence had been returning the idea was that we could next year probably have a few reforms s. And Monreal Mccraw suggested reform the eurozone we now have a new defense cooperation so the signs were optimistic and then Something Like this happens its the very last thing european leaders want and yes reach for another drink to reach for another drink jack let me ask you there in washington how was the u. S. Capitol process in the events that weve seen here in berlin in the past twenty four hours. Kind a little bit of a deja vu here brant because you know we had our surprise last year in november my sense is though that this is not an over deal here you mean member of the song youve got to know when to hold em know when to fold them but you dont count your money until the deal is done the deal is not done in germany and i think that to some extent we have to wait and see what happens im not going to count merkel out right now but it strikes me that is indicative of some of the problems that parties and Party Leaders are having keeping up with their own constituencies and i think weve got that problem on both sides of the atlantic in barber if there are new elections were talking about uncertainty lasting maybe through february march would be even into april what does this mean for bright sit negotiations supposed probably not that much because. You sent twenty seven is quite a united with regard to brics that they do have the line and theyre supposed to stick to it and even a caretaker im going to america can still do some steering she does have a lot of personal connections to all european leaders she can talk to them behind the scenes and they can sort of iron out difficulties and also you have to consider him on a micron to a certain degree can sort of takes things up because in direct talks every veto is a veto so if he says no to a certain type of deal or to a certain type of development things cannot move on so he can to a certain extent take her place and to probably brechts the talks will just sort of drag on as they used to do during the last weeks or so miss your own can maybe take up the slack here for a while jack what about u. S. President donald trump i mean he has attacked america in the past one could assume that todays news must have been music to his ears. Im not sure hes paying a whole lot of attention to that right now brant i mean i sense that basically the medical was set up in some ways here by the Trump Administration as a person they wanted to criticize for many things but remember all politics is local and i think that to some extent whats going on here is that the depiction of america all as the leader in the western world. Given the trump election was something that grated on President Trump well have to see and wait and see how this whole development begins to evolve but again i want to point out im not entirely sure we should count americal out right now europe is in need of leadership she has provided it for the last twelve years it seems to me that its in need of a Franco German partnership right now mccrone is sitting there waiting for the phone to ring i think its important that we wait and see how things unfold before we reach conclusions about the end of the merkel era ok so you dont want to count her out just yet and barbara again lets go back to mccrone and this notion that this could be a chance for france to have a rebirth as leader of europe. Taking it too far or do you think that that could be precisely whats going on here. I think youre taking it too far brant because france of course is trying to regain its role in the European Union which it absolutely didnt fill out during the last years of the government all and however. Is a very young leader even though very ambitious easys clique out of the starting blocks but he doesnt have the experience that underlay merkel has and nobody can talk to Vladimir Putin like she can for instance or kenya imagine the man remote from sort of figuring out how to solve the ukraine crisis i mean she really does have the most experience of all european leaders and so its a ton of them its paris and berlin together that are needed in europe alone he will be really very much alone at home. And he can step into her shoes however i think jacksons right its much too early to write her off even though european the European Union is nervous tonight and everybodys things this is something that we did not want we did not need and there hooping still hoping for a good outcome i think everyone would agree this is something that we did not need that is for sure or a drop of easel in brussels and jacks genes in washington to both of you thank you for being on the day we appreciate it. Well there is no reason to believe that Zimbabwes PresidentRobert Mugabe will step down voluntarily anytime soon after a bloodless military coup last week and after mugabes zandu p. F. Party sacked him as party leader on sunday mugabe delivered an address to the nation on Television Last night talking not about his exit but about his part in a healing of national wombs he ignored a new deadline today to resign so what will it take well tomorrow parliament will convene in the capital harare and impeachment is expected to top the agenda change cannot come fast enough for many in zimbabwe especially for those who have suffered under their president s fist. Christine has this report from the zimbabwean kaput. Linda became an activist after losing her job as a train driver with zimbabwes National Railway operator she was fired for complaining about not having received a salary in months shes paid a higher price for being focal and challenging Robert Mugabes all points here after last year she spent eighty four days in prison on charges of engaging in violent demonstrations i was incarcerated speaking out to thing that im going to shoot that girl your son the premier of trying to discredit my every word but a thing of a wisdom was born could i was trying to do things that the way through pushing me to do but i didnt need a white person to tell me that things were bad in the mob because i will drop this hour living in the kashmir i was living in the world with other people with no brit all because of demagoguery dictatorship which one of the characters raised by a Martin Luther king mark of corruption must say to you that a mother of five has long been saying that president Robert Mugabe it needs to go there are a lot of people my age who have neighborhood who have never had a place to live who have never had the bank account who just sit in the street and know we have a high rate of drug abuse we have a high rate of crime rate mortality rate and everything that is illegal see that mugabe has a niggas yourself genocide Stephen Crane or has also suffered brutality sanctioned by mugabe back in two thousand he was among a group of farmers abducted by armed supporters of the zimbabwean president. I was beaten. Extensively are knocked out i had a lump on my door here for a month. We were a prize we were taken to run when people were stopped where there were bunch of people would get bitten. The ordeal lost it a whole night train of thought she would die stop somewhere in a body with turn to us. The head was by my head because across me and on to my friend. We didnt we told the premier of that wed be killed the body was keeping me drive rained hard that crane will see if he doesnt want the farm back but he would like to be compensated when we were. Evicted we lost our pensions we lost our homes and we lost. Most of income. But old enough to go and start again and but also i dont want to keep on working. As an bobby looks to closing the Robert Mugabe chapter Stephen Crane all like many others is optimistic about the road ahead or there is a new twist tonight the army says that Robert Mugabe is in contact with his ousted Vice President the very man he was said to be his successor now in a statement that was issued this evening the head of the army says that former Vice President gore is working with the president on a solution to the crisis we have made fit the consultation with the president to ugly or narrowed map on that very situation in that country. There is a sense in Security Services i encouraged by new developments which include one doctor between the president and the form of Vice President committed mustnt done with the work we is expected in the country shortly thereafter the nation will be advised that when theyre out of talks between the two. All right im joined now by the zimbabwean author and journalist peter godwin he joins me from new york he is author of when a crocodile into the sun and the fear the last days of Robert Mugabe peters good to have you back on the day let me get your take on what we just heard there are these reports that former Vice President in god is in the country to meet with mugabi what do you make a bit of that well i think it sounds like its a kind of last ditch attempts to drove a deal salma gobby to stand down and to avoid having to go through impeachment proceedings and poli