BERLIN, Oct. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) Chairman Franz Muenterfering said Monday that he urged Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to remain the party's standard-bearer, just two hours after Schroeder hinted retreat from chancellorship to pave way for a stable government.

    Emerging from an impromptu meeting, Muenterfering said that leaders of the party wanted Schroeder to stay on in order to strengthen their position in negotiations with Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) for forging a grand coalition government.

    "We are the largest party in Germany, even if we have a smaller representation in parliament," said the SPD chairman. "We stand on equal footing with the Christian Democrats and we stand behind the chancellor in solidarity."

    Earlier on the same day, Schroeder said in an interview with RTL television that he would not "stand in the way" of a stable government and would accept any decision made by his Social Democratic Party about the next government.

    "This is not about my claims nor about me personally, it is about the claim of leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany," Schroeder said, signaling retreat from his previous ambition that he would remain as the chancellor.

    "I will not stand in the way of anything that would lead to a continuation of the reform processes that I started," he said.

    Schroeder made the remarks one day after the CDU won the election in the Dresden precincts at 37 percent, netting one more seat in the Bundestag to reach 226.

    The SPD got nearly 33 percent of the vote in the district, where elections were delayed because of the death of a local candidate. The number of party's seat in the Bundestag remains 222.

    Germany has been currently in a political uncertainty resulting from the Sept. 18 elections, as neither the CDU/CSU-FPD alliance nor the ruling SPD-Green coalition achieved majority.

    The CDU/CSU garnered 35.2 percent of vote, 0.9 percentage more than the SPD.

    The CDU/CSU and SPD have to be in talks for forming a grand coalition government, but their major dispute is who would be the chancellor.

    On the night of Sept. 18, both Merkel and Schroeder claimed the next chancellorship.

    They are expected to meet for a third round of talks on Wednesday. Enditem