Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) have bought Chancellor Angela Merkel time with their vote to join her conservatives in another coalition, but she risks losing her long grip on power if she fails to balance the awkward allies' conflicting demands.
Merkel's conservatives — her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) allies — and the SPD are both still bruised after suffering from the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in last year's election.
Arch conservatives want to move right to counter the AfD, which profited from Merkel's 2015 decision to open German borders to over 1 million migrants. The SPD, by contrast, wants to allay people's insecurities with spending on welfare and education.