Despite the vote being held seven weeks ago the country remains without a government after talks to form a three-way coalition between Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens collapsed.

Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland, AfD leaders, met with the German Federal President this weekend, as news of the failed coalition negotiations came out.

The pair met with Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier in Berlin's Bellevue Palace while Mrs Merkel struggles to form a government.

Mr Gauland said: “Steinmeier explained to us what he will do next, how he interprets the basic law and why he is doing this now and that he is of course talking to other parties. 

“He has also clearly stated that does not expect us to play a significant role there, we immediately acknowledged this and have made clear that for us the tolerating of a Merkel-Government will of course not be an option, but that we will do it the same way as we did it with the armed forces mandates: we will not categorically reject suggestions made by whomever, which are sensible, to make it clear.”

Ms Weidel however, said as Mrs Merkel has seen her power base severely weakened, she expects the AfD will soon be in Government after it took 13 per cent of the vote in September.

She said: “Well, for us participating in government will be an option the earliest in 2021 and not now, that is completely out of the question. I'm very careful when making predictions. It depends on how many parties, especially also the CDU/CSU and FDP, will develop programatically and everything is open until then.”

The failure by Mrs Merkel to reach an agreement has exposed worries across the European Union’s members over the future of the bloc’s strongest economy.

Although Mrs Merkel won a fourth term as Chancellor, support for her Christian Democrats Union party slid to just 33 per cent, its worst result in 70 years. 

Martin Schulz, the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) had worked with Mrs Merkel’s previous coalition government since 2013 but after the country’s last election he said his party would go into opposition.

Now though the parties are under pressure to form a new coalition with the SPD supporting a conservative-led minority government.

Federal President Steinmeier has previously met with Mrs Merkel, Martin Schulz and Horst Seehofer to find a solution to the upcoming formation of a government. 

A new poll showed 45 per cent of Germans want the chance to vote again after talks for a so-called Jamaica coalition – nicknamed because of the parties' traditional colours resembling those of the Caribbean nation – suddenly collapsed.

The situation has resulted in the co-founder of the Greens, Hans-Christian Ströbele, saying he could not envisage the chancellor staying in her role for much longer.

In an interview with Swiss website Watson, he said: "The end of the chancellorship of Angela Merkel has already been announced by the outcome of the general election.

"Now Merkel's political end can indeed come very quickly. In my opinion, Mrs Merkel will not be able to stay at the top of the government for much longer."

(Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg)