Merkel tells party ready to run for fourth term: sources
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her conservative party Sunday that she wants to seek a fourth term in elections next year ahead of an official announcement at the scheduled party’s new conference, AFP reported.
After months of feverish speculation, she told leaders of her Christian Democratic Union ( CDU) that she was prepared to carry the party banner into the next year’s poll.
The 62- year- old has already served 11 years as chancellor of Europe’s top economic power.
Another full four- year term, which pollsters say is likely, would tie the post- war record set by her mentor Helmut Kohl, who presided over the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
With no clear successor in her party, Merkel represents “stability and reliability in turbulent times because she holds society together and stands up to over- simplification” by populists, CDU deputy leader Julia Kloeckner told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
“She stands for moderation and centrism instead of cheap headlines,” said Kloeckner.
The move is likely to be wel- comed in many capitals as a sign of stability following Brexit and Donald Trump’s election.
But her decision to let in more than one million asylum seekers over the last two years dented her support.
It also revived the fortunes of the right- wing populist Alternative for Germany party ( AfD), which has harnessed widespread anxiety about migration.
However, observers said the recent seismic shifts in global politics could drive traditionally risk- averse German voters back into her arms.
“Society’s need for predict- ability and stability could become so overpowering in the 2017 election year that even the creeping erosion of Merkel’s chancellorship won’t compromise her success at the polls in the end,” left- leaning news weekly Die Zeit said.
In a world shell- shocked by Trump’s election, many see Germany’s bland, cautious veteran leader as a beacon of hope.
Oxford University’s Timothy Garton Ash wrote that the leader of the free world is now Angela Merkel.