German Free Democrats face break political future

The German government's coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party, is launching its election-year campaign at a one day convention.

Correspondents say the party is facing a real threat of political extinction.

It has lost sixty percent of its membership since 1990 and most of its representation in Germany's sixteen state parliaments, following a string of election defeats.

Recent opinion polls predict the Free Democrats will struggle to obtain the minimum five per cent of the vote needed to elect deputies to Germany's national parliament.

There is growing speculation that a poor election performance by the Free Democrats could lead to a grand coalition between thecurrent German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, and the opposition Social Democrats

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service