Germans unsure of Merkel move

Ms Merkel was long considered invincible at the ballot box, but took a beating over her decision to throw open the borders to a mass influx of refugees in 2015

Many Germans may support Chancellor Angela Merkel, but few voiced open enthusiasm when she declared she wants to stay in power — and commentators are asking whether she will offer fresh ideas or is a leader past her zenith.

The veteran chancellor announced Sunday she would run again in next year’s polls and seek to govern Europe’s top economy for a total of 16 years, which would equal the marathon term of her conservative mentor, Helmut Kohl. “Many people would not be very understanding if now I failed to use all of my experience to do my duty for Germany,” she told party faithful from her conservative CDU.

But she humbly rejected as “grotesque and absurd” the many accolades showered on her as the new “leader of the free world” who would keep the flame of liberal democracy burning in the era of Donald Trump, Brexit and rising populism.

Her renewed candidacy is a red flag to the ascendant

populist and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which rails against a “political elite” divorced from the needs of the people.

“Under Merkel, democracy in Germany has withered and mutated into an all-party coalition,” charged Alexander Gauland, deputy leader of the protest party which is now polling at 12 per cent.

Criticism also came from other commentators who groaned at the thought of more-of-the-same after Ms Merkel pledged to “work for more cooperation in this country”. “Did anyone understand why Angela Merkel wants to run again and what she wants to do in the next four years in office? I didn’t,” wrote Der Spiegel’s commentator Dirk Kurbjuweit.