Merkel wins fourth term — but far right rises
Right-wing AfD party makes dramatic gains
• Chancellor Angela Merkel won a record-equalling fourth term in power Sunday, securing a comeback victory in elections after the fallout from her liberal refugee policy.
But the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) was set to enter parliament with around 88 seats after a campaign in which its leading candidate called for Germans to take pride in the military achievements of the Nazis.
Merkel emerged as the only leader in a position to form a government. But she lost her previous coalition partner as the Social Democrats (SPD) suffered the worst electoral result of their history, and announced they would return to opposition.
“We have a mandate to form a government. And no one can form a government against us,” Merkel said.
But it could take until Christmas for her to put together a new coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Green Party. Analysts said the result was a blow to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, whose call for eurozone reforms are opposed by the FDP.
Merkel acknowledged that dramatic gains for the AfD were the “biggest challenge” facing her government, and vowed to win voters back from the party that campaigned on a nationalist antiimmigrant platform.
“This is a great night. We did it. We are in parliament,” Alexander Gauland, the AfD’s chancellor candidate said. “We will change this country. We will hunt Merkel, and reclaim our country and our people.”
Germany’s system of coalition government will limit the effect of the AfD as mainstream parties unite against it.
Hundreds of protesters, most in their 20s, gathered outside the AfD headquarters in Berlin after initial results were announced. “Until now, I had hoped this wasn’t going to happen, but we are here and the extreme right is back,” a neurology student who gave her name as Johnston said.
“We lost the election,” Martin Schulz, the SPD leader who was talked of as Germany’s next chancellor as recently as six months ago, told supporters. But he said he wanted to stay on as party leader and vowed to take the fight to the AfD. “We are the bulwark of democracy,” he said.
Schulz blamed Merkel for the rise of the AfD.
“Mrs. Merkel fought a scandalous campaign,” he said. “She ducked away from debate, and prevented any contrast between the democratic left and the democratic right. This systematic refusal of political debate created a vacuum that the AfD was able to fill. I believe Mrs. Merkel bears a great responsibility for this.”
Schulz returned from EU politics in Brussels to lead his party in the campaign. But he was unable to differentiate his party from Merkel’s government, and the SPD was punished by voters for its part in her coalition.
AfD’s hopes of becoming the official opposition party appeared to be dashed when the SPD announced it would not seek a renewal of the current “Grand Coalition” with Merkel.
The rise of the AfD and the fall in the CDU’s share of the vote were widely seen as a backlash over Merkel’s controversial 2015 decision to open Germany’s borders to asylum seekers. But less than a year after many had written Merkel’s chances off, a result that allows her to remain chancellor will also be seen as a comeback.
All eyes will now turn to coalition talks, and Merkel’s attempts to form a new government.
The SPD’s decision to return to opposition has limited her options, with a three-way coalition with the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens the only
WE WILL CHANGE THIS COUNTRY. WE WILL HUNT MERKEL, AND RECLAIM OUR COUNTRY.
obvious option.
The FDP, which returned to parliament with 10.5 per cent after losing all their seats four years ago, have long been seen as Merkel’s preferred coalition partner.
The Greens, who won 9 per cent, are also seen as a viable partner after moving to a more pragmatic, centrist course in recent years, but they are not natural bedfellows for the FDP.
The drop in the CDU’s vote share means the two smaller parties will be able to demand a big price for their support.
“It was a bad night for Schulz and the Socialists, but also for Mrs. Merkel and the Christian Democrats. She still heads the largest party, but she enters these coalition negotiations with a weakened hand,” said Christian Odendahl, of the Centre for European Reform think-tank in Berlin.
“Forming a three-party government is going to be very difficult,” said Dan Hough, professor of politics at the University of Sussex, who was in Germany to monitor the elections. “The Greens and the FDP will feel emboldened by the result and given their traditional animosity it’s in no way certain that the three parties will be able to strike a coalition agreement.”