Merkel wins fourth term after holding off far-Right surge
ANGELA Merkel was last night elected for a fourth term as German Chancellor as a far-Right party was propelled into parliament for the first time since the Second World War.
Despite still leading the largest party by winning 32.5 per cent of the vote, Mrs Merkel faced a backlash as she lost seats.
Her Christian Democratic Union remained the biggest parliamentary party with 217 seats but support surged for the far-Right Alternative fur Deutschland, with nearly one in seven voters backing its anti-immigrant stance.
Last night, Germany’s Central Council of Jews issued a dramatic warning that the country was “facing its biggest challenge” since the 1940s.
And yesterday SPD leader Martin Schulz, Mrs Merkel’s main rival, also issued a warning to Britain over Brexit.
The former president of the European Parliament said the EU should not cede more ground to Britain in negotiations and said Theresa May was gambling in a bid to strengthen her domestic position.
Coalition
Last night in Berlin anti-fascist protesters gathered outside AfD headquarters where bottles were reportedly thrown and flares were ignited. The AfD was projected to gain 88 seats, marking a major shift in German politics.
One of its candidates, 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.”
The AfD’s Beatrix van Storch said that the election result was “a huge success and it will change the political system in Germany, and it will give back a voice to the opposition”.
Ms van Storch said her party will “give the people who have not been represented in the last parliament a voice again”.
She added: “We will start debates on migration, we will start debates on Islam, we will start debates on ever-closer union.”
Observers said the political landscape had changed following Mrs Merkel’s decision to allow a million migrants into the country. She is now expected to join forces with smaller parties in a three-way coalition, including the Greens and the liberal and pro-business FDP party, which could influence Brexit talks.
She said: “The CDU would have hoped for a better result but we mustn’t forget – looking back at an extraordinary challenge – that we, nevertheless, achieved our strategic objectives: We are the strongest party. We have a mandate to form the new government and we will form the new government.”
She vowed to take on board the views of nationalist voters, adding: “But this was also an election that saw the arrival in parliament of the AfD.
“We will conduct a very thorough analysis. We want to regain those voters who voted for the AfD, to discover their concerns and worries.
“We need to work now for a just and a free country. That means we need to bring together all of the EU countries to fight against the causes of migration and to fight illegal immigration. It is clear that the topic of security is as much a worry as the topic of prosperity.”