MERKEL CLAIMS MANDATE TO FORM GOVT
GERMAN CHANCELLOR SET FOR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE TERM
BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merk el on Sunday claimed a mandate to form a new German government with her conservative bloc. She also vowed to win back voters from the nationalist Alternative for Germany party after it got enough support to enter Parliament.
Projections showed Merkel’s conservative Union bloc finishing first in Sunday’s election but well short of its election results in 2013. Supporters at party headquarters greeted her with cheers, applause and chants of “Angie!”
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has been harshly critical of Merkel and her decision to let in large numbers of mi grants in the last two years. Merkel told her supporters in Berlin that “we want to win back AfD voters.
She said: “Of course we had hoped for a slightly better result. But we mustn’t forget that we have just completed an extraordinarily challenging legislative period, so I am happy that we reached the strategic goals of our election campaign.
“We are the strongest party, we have the mandate to build the next government-and-there cannot be a coalition government built against us,” she added.
Martin Schulz, SPD party leader and chancellor candidate, told ZDF broadcaster: “We cannot have an extreme right-wing party leading the opposition in Germany, therefore ... we will go into opposition.”
He told supporters in Berlin that this election was a “bitter day” for Germany’ s Social Democrats, adding :“Especially depressing for all of us is the strength of the A fD, which for the first time brings a right-wing party into German Parliament in such a strong position.
“The fact thatwe took in more than one million refugees in our country is still dividing in our country. What for some has been an act of humanity and charity is to others menacing, strange and filled with fear. We did not manage to persuade all of our voters that Germany is strong enough not to leave anyone behind,” Schulz said.
AfD top candidate Alexander Gauland said: “The government, whatever it will look like, should get ready for tough times. We’ll chase them. We’ll take back our country and our people.”