First place isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Germany's Social Democratic Party pulled out a close victory on Sunday, finishing just ahead of the conservative Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social union in the country's parliamentary elections. The party was far short of a majority, but the win puts them in a good position to head up the country's next governing coalition in the post-Angela Merkel era. That is, unless they're upended in their quest by the election's third- and fourth-place finishers.
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