Most Germans want three-way coalition of conservatives, FDP and Greens: poll

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and outgoing Labour Minister Andrea Nahles arrive at Bellevue Castle in Berlin September 28, 2017. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

BERLIN (Reuters) - Some 59 percent of Germans want a three-way coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens to rule after a national election last Sunday, a poll showed. The survey for broadcaster ZDF found around one fifth (22 percent) of Germans thought a so-called 'Jamaica' coalition would be bad while 15 percent would not mind it. The alliance is so called in reference to the three parties' colors: black, yellow and green, which are also those of the Jamaican flag. Appetite for a repeat of the 'grand coalition' of Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD), who have governed Germany for the last four years, was weak, the poll found. Only around a fifth (23 percent) would prefer such a tie-up to a Jamaica coalition while 41 percent thought it would be worse. The SPD, which suffered its worst result in the post-war era in Sunday's election, has said it will go into opposition at the national level - a move that almost two-thirds (63 percent) found good. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Paul Carrel)