Reelected German chancellor Merkel shops for coalition partners

GE RM A N Chancellor Angela Merkel who won a fourth term in office at the weekend after a general election that has surged an overtly nationalist party to enter parliament for the first time in decades, has begun shopping for coalition partners.

Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party secured 33 per cent of the vote on Sunday, down about nine per cent compared to the last election in 2013.

Their main rival and current coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats led by Martin Schulz, got around 21 per cent of the vote - their worst result in post-war Germany.

But the biggest change to Germany’s political scene was the emergence of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) party as the country’s third biggest political force with 12.6 per cent of the vote.

The pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) bounced back into parliament with 10.1 per cent of the vote, while the environmental Greens scored 9.2 per cent and the leftist Die Linke picked up 8.9 per cent.

Addressing supporters at party headquarters, Merkel, who will now have to find new coalition partners, said she hoped for “better results”.

“Let’s not beat around the bush, of course we would have preferred a better result, that’s completely clear,” Merkel said after the announcement of the exit polls.

“But let’s also not forget that we have just come out of an extraordinarily challenging legislative period,” Merkel added.