Tag: Featured

    The victory was seen as a bittersweet one for Merkel, with her alliance having lost about 8% of the vote compared to the last election. The SPD was down by almost 5%. The AfD gained more than 8 points on its 2013 result, when it failed to reach the 5% hurdle that would have allowed it into the Bundestag. Thirty-five percent of its supporters were first time voters. Voter turnout stood at 77% a 5.5-point increase on 2013 after voters were urged by leaders of the mainstream parties to turn out in force in an attempt to counter the rise of the right. The country faces weeks of drawn out coalition talks between the parties, about who will form a government with the CDU/CSU. A repeat of the so-called grand coalition between Merkel’s conservative alliance and the SPD would amoun...

    Chancellor returns but with diminished authority as first openly nationalist party in decades enters Bundestag. Angela Merkel has secured a fourth term as German chancellor but with her authority diminished, after her conservative bloc secured the lead position in parliamentary elections but failed to halt the march of rightwing populists. Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was celebrating its historic third place success last night, having secured 13% of the vote, according to exit polls, marking the first time in almost six decades that an openly nationalist party will enter the Bundestag. Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrat-led alliance secured 33% of the vote, according to exit polls, about 12 points ahead of her main rivals, Martin Schulz’s centre left Social Demo...

    Germany is going to the polls on Sunday today for the country's federal elections, with long-serving Chancellor Angela Merkel looking all but certain to win a historic fourth term in office. The poll is also expected to see the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) entering parliament for the first time. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged people to go vote. Voting is a civic duty. Go and vote! Steinmeier wrote in an opinion piece published in the Bild am Sonntag Sunday newspaper. Every vote counts - your vote counts, Steinmeier asserted. People who don't vote allow others to decide the future of our country. Opinion polls suggest Merkel and her party are heading for a clear win, which would gift Merkel a historic fourth term. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CD...